At one point or another, you've probably heard someone speak with confidence on a topic that they actually know almost nothing about. This phenomenon is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, which refers to the finding that people who are relatively unskilled or unknowledgeable in a particular subject sometimes have the tendency to overestimate their knowledge and abilities.
In a set of studies, researchers Justin Kruger and David Dunning asked participants to complete tests of their skills in a particular domain. Then, participants were asked to guess how well they had done on the test. This effect was most pronounced among participants with the lowest scores on the test.
David Dunning explains that "the knowledge and intelligence that are required to be good at a task are often the same qualities needed to recognize that one is not good at that task." In other words, if someone knows very little about a particular topic, they may not even know enough about the topic to realize that their knowledge is limited. Importantly, someone may be highly skilled in one area, but be influenced by the Dunning-Kruger effect in another domain.
If people who know very little about a topic think they're experts, what do experts think of themselves? Interestingly, Dunning and Kruger found that although experts typically guessed their performance was above average, they didn't realize quite how well they had done. They often make a different mistake:
What can people do to overcome the effect? Dunning and Kruger once had some of the participants take a logic test and then complete a short training session on logical reasoning. After the training, the participants were asked to assess how they'd done on the previous test.
Afterward, the participants who scored in the bottom 25 percent lowered their estimate of how well they thought they had done on the initial test. In other words, one way to overcome the effect may be to learn more about a topic.
The Dunning-Kruger effect suggests that we may not always know as much as we think we do.
However, by challenging ourselves to learn more and by reading about opposing views, we can work to overcome the effect.
A. Researchers found that the training made a difference.
B. They assume that everyone else is knowledgeable, too.
C. This happens when people don't know much about a topic.
D. All of them had a more accurate view of their performance.
E. They found that participants tended to overestimate their abilities.
F. This means that everyone can potentially be affected by the Dunning-Kruger effect.
G. In some domains, we may not know enough about a topic to realize that we are unskilled.
