BETTER CONFIDENCE THROUGH BLISSFUL IGNORANCE

[defrog]

ITEM: Bertrand Russell once said, “In the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” Now science proves it.

It’s called the Dunning-Kreuger Effect, which basically says that the more incompetent you are, the more confident you are in whatever you say or do, and the more intelligent you are, the more likely you are to underestimate and second-guess yrself.

The research suggests this is because people who don’t know what they’re doing are blissfully unaware that they’re wrong in the first place, so they have no reason to doubt themselves.

Even when the dunces were shown how their more competent classmates had answered their exams, they didn't become aware of their own mistakes. In fact the opposite occurred; they actually increased the estimate of their own marks. Those who failed the task seemed to be completely oblivious to what a good result looks like. Context didn't make them more aware of their stupidity, it acted to reinforce their delusions.

I'm sure many of you can find enough real-world examples on which to apply this. If nothing else, it does explain a lot about the current state of politics.

Or maybe not. I’m not sure. I’ll have to get back to you on that.

I think I can,

This is dF

Comments

[thelastaerie.livejournal.com]

Some days I think our whole sales team falls into this category!