The Dunning-Kruger Effect
by: vicque fassinger
Sure, it’s reassuring when the HVAC tech you’ve called to troubleshoot and repair your home’s heating system is so highly knowledgeable about his chosen field that he can quickly identify the problem with your furnace and fix it within a matter of minutes at a nominal fee. Unquestionably, it’s calming to know that when your landscaper explains why you should stop using a particular brand of weed killer, you know he speaks from years of experience in the industry and is looking out for your well-being and the sustainability of your garden. Yes, it’s more enjoyable to watch Jeopardy when you actually know some of the answers – especially when the contestants themselves seem clueless in the categories where you happen to shine.
What’s not reassuring, or calming, or enjoyable, however, is when you find yourself in the company of someone who holds overly-favorable views of their abilities and who thinks they are savvy and super smart in many social and intellectual domains when, in actuality, nothing could be further from the truth. What’s worse? The fact that folks who adamantly and matter-of-factly believe they are the brightest light in the room actually (and unfortunately) lack the self-awareness to realize that they have vastly overestimated their capabilities, knowledge, and expertise about a subject. This common phenomenon — where people believe they are smarter than what they actually are – is known as The Dunning-Kruger Effect.
Aptly named after David Dunning and Justin Kruger — the two social psychologists who conducted studies on it, the Dunning-Kruger Effect refers to people who overestimate their own knowledge, abilities, and skills due, in part, to the fact that these individuals suffer in another area as well. They suffer from a lack of metacognitive ability to realize it; that is, their ability to think about thinking or to know what they know and what they don’t know. As a result, these people reach erroneous conclusions about themselves and others and make unfortunate choices throughout their lives that can lead them to places they don’t want to be.
“I’ll Let You Know When to Laugh!”
The Dunning-Kruger Effect pertains to people not only who score in the lowest percentiles when tested on logic, grammar, and humor, but also who then believe they actually excelled on the tests and scored much higher. For example, in one study Dunning and Kruger asked 65 participants who considered themselves exceptional judges of humor to rate just how funny they thought a variety of different jokes were that (unbeknownst to them) were pretty funny to other people. Some of the study’s participants could not effectively identify what other people found hysterical; moreover, the participants did not see their inability to identify humorous jokes as an issue with their own sense of humor, but rather with the jokes or with what others found funny.
“You Graded It Wrong!”
This inability to take onus can be detrimental in various social, academic, and professional settings. In a classroom, for example, a student afflicted with The Dunning-Kruger Effect would be the one who earns a failing or below-average score on an essay or an exam but who adamantly believes they did much better on it – and deserved a higher score than what they actually earned. Instead of understanding that their failing grade was the result of their poor preparation for the exam or because of their poor writing skills in being able to present a thesis succinctly in a well-organized essay, they instead argue that they did great on it and the instructor simply failed to recognize their greatness. The researchers found that low performers not only are unable to recognize their own incompetence, but also are unable to recognize the competencies of other people. This inability to identify, see, accept, and understand that others are quite competent in various areas further adds to the low performers believing they are better and more capable than anyone else.
“Yes, I Am Quite Familiar With That (Non-Existent) Word!”
In another study, the researchers prepared a list of terms on various subjects, including physics, geography, politics, and biology. Throughout the list of actual terms common to the particular subject areas, the researchers included terms that were non-existent and that they completely made up themselves. Dunning and Kruger then asked their participants to identify the terms with which they were familiar. The researchers found that only 10 percent of the study’s participants did not include the made-up words in their list of words they felt confident they knew; that is, 90 percent of the respondents claimed they actually had some knowledge of or familiarity with the terms that don’t actually exist! The researchers concluded that the more people who were afflicted with The Dunning-Kruger Effect claimed they knew about a subject, the more likely they were to claim that they knew the meaning of words that don’t exist.
If you think you are suffering from The Dunning-Kruger Effect, “Better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt” (Maurice Switzer, 1906). The publication date was 1907 and the copyright notice was 1906.
