The Dunning-Kruger Effect: Ignorance Is Bold
The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive trait that causes people who are less competent in a given field to overestimate their abilities, and those who are more competent to underestimate them. Basically, some ignorant people think they know a lot and those who really know consider themselves ignorant.
Thus, those who are victims of this characteristic have an illusion of superiority when evaluating their competence as above average. Furthermore, they also tend to underestimate the most competent.
This effect was demonstrated in a study published in 1999 by Dunning and Justin Kruger, two researchers in the Department of Psychology at Cornell University. Now, a curious fact is that the Dunning-Kruger effect seems only suitable for Western societies. When trying to replicate it in Asia, the researchers found that the exact opposite was true.
Why does the Dunning-Kruger effect occur?
According to the Dunning-Kruger theory, the explanation for this phenomenon would be that incompetent people do not have exactly the necessary skills to distinguish themselves from those who are more capable. People who lack the knowledge or wisdom to perform well are often not aware of it. This lack of awareness is attributed to a deficit in metacognitive skills.
In other words, the incompetence that drives them to make wrong decisions is the same one that deprives them of the ability to recognize this ability. They are unable to recognize this either in themselves or in others.
In fact, there are a multitude of intellectually mediocre people who make a living by making us believe that they are the authors of a special genius and that they are full of charisma. They usually do this because they turn out to be attractive to us.
However, the results of the Kruger and Dunning studies can have several interpretations. Often the effect is as follows: of all the people who carry out a specific task, the least qualified believe they are very prepared to carry it out. On the contrary, the best ones tend to trust their abilities less.
The reason for the success of the incompetent
We find the explanation for these people’s success in a captivating idea known as the fair world fallacy. According to this idea, the results we get in life are always deserved. People who think like that believe that everyone is in a certain position, because they deserve it that way on their merits. So, although it may not seem like, “something must have”.
What we see is that incompetent people think they are better than they really are. However, they generally don’t think they are as good as those that are, in fact, good. It is important to note that Dunning and Kruger never claimed that the incompetent think they are better than the competent. They just believe they are really better than they are and they claim it too.
There is a great deal of disagreement between how incompetent people perceive their own performance and what it really is. This disagreement is much smaller for highly competent people, which represents a serious problem for both groups.
For those who aren’t really very skilled, the Dunning-Kruger effect keeps them from getting better. Until they recognize their mistakes, they can never get over them. On the contrary, for those who are already good, this characteristic prevents them from shining as much as possible. Confidence in yourself is critical to success.
Examples of the Dunning-Kruger Effect
If, for example, you’re not very good at languages, it can be hard to figure that out. This is because the skills you would need to distinguish someone who is good from someone who is not good are precisely what you lack. If you can’t hear the difference between two different phonemes, how would you know who can speak natively and who isn’t? If you understand a few words of a foreign language, how would you rate the size of your own vocabulary compared to others?
Or perhaps you’ve often heard a person talk about a subject they know absolutely nothing about. On the contrary, those who really know about something tend to remain silent. This can even be observed in the media. In them, more attention is paid to people who demonstrate confidence, even if they are not right.
Conclusion
Extremely simplified, the Dunning-Kruger theory can be understood as follows. While the ignorant think they are good, those who really are think they are incompetent.
Undoubtedly, overcoming this effect is fundamental for our society. So, if at any point you think you have the truth, don’t shut up. It is necessary for wise people to start trusting themselves more.
