The Dunning-Kruger Effect

Are stupid people too stupid to realize that they are stupid? This question has been asked for thousands of years but only in the past decade or so has it been answered scientifically. Winners of the Ig Nobel Prize, Dunning and Kruger showed that - yes - there is something to this age-old question.

[gordonyork]

I have found this to be true in my life. I am an artist and never felt that I was as good as my peers. However, after 3 heart attacks and loosing my home and family. I almost died.

I gave up caring for my ego. Now, I know that I am as good or better than most.

It was a tough ride. Yet, I still exist.

[johnarnold]

This is the smartest, best paper I have ever seen. Which means, I have overestimated my competence and this paper is far below average, as judged by me. However, knowing that I have overestimated my competence, now places me among the high performers, but if I have judged myself to be among the high performers…?
My wife uses this same kind of logic. I will ask her to explain it to me.

[liberty-matrix]

*"The problem isn't that Johnny can't read. The problem isn't even that Johnny can't think.*
*The problem is that Johnny doesn't know what thinking is. He confuses it with feeling."*
_- Thomas Sowell_

[luciancorvus]

" The worm that will destroy you is the temptation to agree
with your critics … to seek their approval. "
Thomas Harris

[davidharford]

This explains American Idol contestants.

[liberty-matrix]

"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." ~Confucius

[scotthullinger]

"I'm too humble to know that I'm humble. And that's the reason why I felt the need to tell you so. Because of my overwhelming humility."
(That's the motto of a person who suffers from DKE).

[markdavis]

The more you learn the more you understand how little you know.

[TheMABExperience]

I've always wondered if people with flawed thinking had the capacity to be aware that their thinking may be flawed & I didn't know there was a name for this theory until now.

[CC-fqbn]

I once said that I don't know anything and a girl told me I was wrong.

Still haven't gotten over that.

[arutube]

This is the smartest explanation for Dunning Kruger Effect I have ever seen while searching about it. 1000 thumb for you.

[differous]

“If our brains were simple enough for us to understand them,
we'd be so simple that we couldn't.”
[Ian Stewart - 'The Collapse of Chaos"]

[vle]

To succeed in life, you need two things, the ignorance and confidence! - Marc Twain.

[greenmanatee]

"Dumb people are blissfully unaware of how dumb they really are" -Patrick Star

[Try-Imagine]

The media's biased opinion polls of Hillary Clinton was an excellent example of this effect.

[istinkofpoobut]

I kinda worked this out on my own in my head without ever having heard of this theory. I kind of discovered it on my own from just being observant, so many people are like this.

[Repdem]

I do research on everything I am interested in. I am constantly amazed by passionate opinions from people who obviously don't have the first clue about their subject.
It's depressing as hell.

[vh_on_my_selah]

Most everything I have heard and read about Dunning's and Kruger's work is heavily focused on the lower end participants. I recently stumbled upon a "form the horse's mouth" presentation by Dunning. He addressed another aspect of the higher end performers . In a survey of University professors, 92% ranked themselves as above average to their peers. He also touched on the tendency of highly educated and accomplished people to opine as experts on subjects unrelated to their field, in which they are actually ignorant. Hubris is universal.

[ruirodtube]

When you talked about the Double Curse I thought it would be that the incompetent people overestimated their competence BUT ALSO that the competent people underestimated their competence. The underestimation is also a curse because it causes people to avoid engaging in activities they might actually be good at, like in the example you gave later in the video about female subjects and science. Overall it was a great video. Learned a lot, thx.

[SundayRAWR]

I just love how systematic and simple your presentations are. You are very good at explaining.