[extropy-chat] Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments

[Emlyn]

Just got sent this, thought it'd make a few people laugh.

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Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own
Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments
(Justin Kruger and David Dunning, Cornell University)

http://www.apa.org/journals/features/psp7761121.pdf

People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many
social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that this
overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in
these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach
erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their
incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it.
Across 4 studies, the authors found that participants scoring in the
bottom quartile on tests of humor, grammar, and logic grossly
overestimated their test performance and ability. Although their test
scores put them in the 12th percentile, they estimated themselves to
be in the 62nd. Several analyses linked this miscalibration to
deficits in metacognitive skill, or the capacity to distinguish
accuracy from error. Paradoxically, improving the skills of
participants, and thus increasing their metacognitive competence,
helped them recognize the limitations of their abilities.

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Emlyn