The "above-average syndrome" is, simply put, that the average person in a given field will believe themselves to be above average. In other words, more people believe themselves above average than really are. Obviously, only 50% can be above average, but there are perhaps 80% who believe they are. ...Read the rest.
Dunning and Kruger looked at the above-average effect, and formed the hypothesis that it takes skills to evaluate yourself. With that hypothesis in mind, they set out to make a number of experiments to either disprove it, or to support it. Since I'm writing about the effect now, you've probably already figured out that their experiments supported their hypothesis.
[T]he superstition that the budget must be balanced at all times, once it is debunked, takes away one of the bulwarks that every society must have against expenditure out of control. . . . [O]ne of the functions of old-fashioned religion was to scare people by sometimes what might be regarded as myths into behaving in a way that long-run civilized life requires.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
The Dunning-Kruger effect
5 comments:
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It's interesting that those in the top quartile of performance *underestimate* their skill, and place themselves in the second quartile. Imposter syndrome?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clear and concise explanation!
ReplyDeleteHere's a link to a YouTube video on the same research:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyOHJa5Vj5Y
(BTW: it takes about a full minute for your blog page to open on my, admittedly, slow computer but I don't have this problem on other pages... just thought you'd like to know)
Loads fine for me, and a good video. Thanks HD!
ReplyDelete