Dunning Kruger effect
Ever wondered why do stupid people think they are smart? This article delight gives you the answer right away!! The answer being Dunning Kruger effect!!
Dunning Kruger effect describes that people of lesser ability tend to think they’re better because they are unable to recognize their own ineptitude. In short this effect sums up your frustration: “Stupid people are so sure of themselves and smart ones seem to second guess everything.”
or, “The more you know, the less you think you know, and the less you know, the more you think you know.“
What is Dunning Kruger effect ?
Named after psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger, the Dunning-Kruger effect is a type of cognitive bias  in which people wrongly overestimate their knowledge or ability in a specific area. This tends to occur because a lack of self-awareness prevents them from accurately assessing their own skills. The opposite of the Dunning-Kruger Effect to some degree is Imposter Syndrome ( read more https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome ). Here, you have high-ability but believe your actual ability is very low. In a nutshell, while your ability is high, you feel like a fraud or believe that you are faking competence in some way.
To understand the effect better, lets go through the original research.
About the Dunning Kruger effect research
Dunning and Kruger’s original research was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 1999.
Their research involved four studies assessing participants’ actual and perceived abilities in humor, logical reasoning, and English grammar. In the grammar study, for instance, 84 Cornell undergraduates were asked to complete a test evaluating their knowledge of American Standard Written English (ASWE). They were then asked to rate their own grammar ability and test performance.
Those who scored lowest on the test (10th percentile) tended to drastically overestimate both their perceived grammar ability (67th percentile) and test score (61st percentile). In contrast, those who scored highest on the test tended to underestimate their ability and test score.
Psychology behind Dunning Kruger effect
One of the reasons behind Dunning Kruger effect is that gaining a small amount of knowledge in an area about which one was previously ignorant can make people feel as though they’re suddenly virtual experts. Only after continuing to explore a topic do they realize how extensive it is and how much they still have to master.
Here’s a simplified graph of the concept
The Dunning-Kruger Curve shows that people with zero experience know they are incompetent. However, those with just a little experience vastly overestimate their competence. As people get further experience, they become more aware of the gaps in their knowledge and their confidence decreases until they reach the point of average competence. After this point, as their expertise increases, so does their confidence.
People are often only able to evaluate themselves from their own limited and highly subjective point of view. From this limited perspective, they seem highly skilled, knowledgeable, and superior to others. Because of this, people sometimes struggle to have a more realistic view of their own abilities. So the lack of metacognition also causes this effect.
Strategies for overcoming
What should you do if you encounter the Dunning-Kruger Effect ? What can you do to gain a more realistic assessment of your own abilities in a particular area if you are not sure you can trust your own self-assessment.
Take Feedback
Go with constructive criticism. While it can sometimes be difficult to hear, such feedback can provide valuable insights into how others perceive your abilities.
Dig Deeper
Keep challenging your beliefs and expectations. Seek out information that challenges your ideas. Instead of assuming you know all there is to know about a subject, keep digging deeper. Once you gain greater knowledge of a topic, the more likely you are to recognize how much there is still to learn.
Take your time.
People tend to feel more confident when they make decisions quickly. If you want to avoid the Dunning-Kruger effect, stop and take the time to investigate snap decisions.
Final Takeaways
The Dunning-Kruger effect is an interaction between performance and perceived performance. An important point to realize about the Dunning Kruger Effect is that it doesn’t just happen to some people. It happens to all of us, you, me, your boss, everyone! Something that exists to a lesser or greater extent within us all. The effect is at its most visible and dangerous in people with just a little experience of something who are unrealistically overconfident. Openness, Curiosity and a lifelong commitment to learning are some tools that help you minimize the effects of Dunning-Kruger in your everyday life.
Read more : How to end Brain Fog | What causes Brain Fog ( https://thebrightdelights.com/how-to-end-brain-fog-what-causes-brain-fog/ )