Dunning-Kruger effect: Definition, Examples, & Facts

Have you ever thought about how objectively you assess your skills? Do you have impostor syndrome or inflated self-esteem? In the matter of soberly assessing your own strengths, you cannot do without raising the topic of the Dunning-Kruger effect. It refers to a type of cognitive distortion when a person incorrectly assesses his real abilities.

Research has revealed a pattern that less competent people tend to overestimate their skills, while more professional specialists, on the contrary, underestimate their strengths.

This effect refers to a special type of cognitive distortion when a person is convinced that he is an excellent expert in a certain issue, but in reality has an objectively small amount of knowledge in this area. This psychological phenomenon leads to the fact that a person often makes mistakes and makes the wrong decision. As social psychologist D. Dunning said, the irony of the effect is that some people are not smart enough to admit the fact that they are not smart enough.

History of origin

This cognitive distortion is named after psychologists from the USA – D. Dunning and D. Kruger. In 1999, they conducted tests among their students to assess their sense of humor, logical abilities and knowledge of grammar.

The main feature of this testing is that before showing their students the results, the psychologists first asked them to rate their work in percentages. And here is where the most interesting thing happened:

• students who demonstrated a result of about 15% in all tests, estimated their abilities at 50 percent or more higher;
• students with the highest results in all 3 tests, on the contrary, significantly underestimated themselves.

But is an incompetent person able to realize that he does not have enough knowledge? To solve this issue, psychologists invited test participants with the lowest scores and asked them to rate the tests of other participants and then rate their own tests again. Here is where another interesting thing happened: the lagging students not only did not admit their own incompetence, but gave themselves even higher scores than they had before. They began to overestimate their abilities only after completing training on the topics that were tested.

Visually, this effect is described in the form of a graph that shows the relationship between self-confidence and competence. In essence, this is the path of most people from an amateur to an expert. The curve consists of 4 segments:

• Peak of "Mount Stupid". A person is extremely confident in his abilities. He thinks: "I know absolutely everything!" This is where you can clearly see how people with little knowledge have high self-confidence and evaluate their competence too optimistically.
• Valley of Despair. This is a completely opposite feeling compared to the previous segment of the curve: "I know absolutely nothing!"
• Slope of Enlightenment. At this stage, a person has accumulated enough knowledge that can be used in practice. Now a person realizes that he has room for growth and development.
• Plateau of Sustainability. This segment indicates that the person is already an expert and is developing self-confidence.

The presented effect can be called a simpler and more understandable term - know-it-all syndrome. It can be recognized in a person even in a simple conversation. The following signs indicate that a person is under the influence of this cognitive distortion:

• overestimation of one's abilities;
• underestimation of the competence of colleagues;
• complete lack of understanding of their own wrongness.

At the same time, a person may well admit his incompetence after completing training, even if his knowledge increases only slightly.

This effect can manifest itself in anyone. If self-esteem is overestimated, then this will manifest itself in the form of the following signs:

• overly optimistic attitude towards the results of one's activities;
• tendency to embellish one's past achievements;
• "I told you so!" - insistence that a person knew exactly how an event would end;
• change in behavior when a person is in a small circle;
• a strong belief that a person knows everything in detail.

At work, such people can become unbearable bosses. At the same time, more competent and less energetic people remain in the shadows.

Example 1:

In 1995, a real story happened that describes this effect well. Two banks were robbed, but because the robbers did not disguise themselves at all, they were identified and soon detained. The fact is that the robbers rubbed their faces with lemon juice and were sure that due to this, CCTV cameras would not be able to record them. After all, lemon juice is used for invisible ink. Before the robbery, they even tested their hypothesis by taking a photo on Polaroid. But either because of the defective film, or because the face was blurred during movement, the face was impossible to recognize. This finally convinced the men that they were right.

Example 2:

Have you seen the movie "Prima Donna" (2016) with Meryl Streep? The main character Florence Foster Jenkins dreamed of becoming an opera singer. At the same time, she had absolutely no voice and no ear for music. But the lack of talent did not become an obstacle for the millionaire from New York. As a result, she received the title of the most worthless singer in the world, but at the same time she believed that she had an incredibly beautiful voice.

This effect is closely related to deviations in self-esteem. According to psychologists, people with extremely high self-esteem are more susceptible to the Dunning-Kruger effect. You have probably met such "know-it-alls" in your life, who in fact were complete amateurs, compensating for the lack of knowledge with assertiveness and self-confidence.

Here you can check your self-esteem using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale.

The other extreme of this effect is impostor syndrome. A person with this syndrome constantly questions their own knowledge and exaggerates the knowledge and skills of others. Sometimes such a person is so immersed in a certain area that he no longer understands how much he is ahead of other people. The impostor syndrome is usually accompanied by low self-esteem.

In the work environment, such people find it difficult to defend their opinion. They can give in to colleagues and management even knowing that they are wrong. Doubts in their abilities and low self-esteem do not allow them to actively fight for their ideas.

Here you can take a free Imposter Syndrome Test to find out if you are underestimating your own knowledge.

Critics of the theory often point out that the authors “pulled” the research results to fit a convenient theory, although in fact the results are easily explained by such a phenomenon of statistical analysis as “regression toward the mean” and in fact the distortion in the assessment will not be so obvious with repeated testing.

In addition, many studies show that people generally tend to highly evaluate their knowledge. At the same time, some studies completely refute the Dunning-Kruger theory. For example, in this study by the University of California, 80% of unskilled respondents correctly assessed their real abilities.

If you are likely to encounter this effect, then there are 5 tips on how not to become its victim:

• try to challenge your own statements - come up with counter arguments to refute your confidence in the rightness;
• learn to perceive criticism;
• communicate more with other people and remain open to alternative points of view;
• do not jump to conclusions;
• manage your confidence - as a rule, it will decrease as your knowledge and experience increase. Remember this.

If you are constantly working on yourself, learning something new, developing your skills, then this syndrome is not an issue for you. But keep in mind that if you are an expert in a certain area, then in others you may be an amateur.