>From today's Miscellanea [1]: Unskilled and Unaware of It: How
Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated
Self-Assessments [2]
Abstract:
People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in
many social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that
this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are
unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these
people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices,
but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to
realize it. Across 4 studies, the authors found that participants
scoring in the bottom quartile on tests of humor, grammar, and
logic grossly overestimated their test performance and
ability. Although their test scores put them in the 12th
percentile, they estimated themselves to be in the 62nd. Several
analyses linked this miscalibration to deficits in metacognitive
skill, or the capacity to distinguish accuracy from
error. Paradoxically, improving the skills of participants, and
thus increasing their metacognitive competence, helped them
recognize the limitations of their abilities.
I'm surprised no one has forwarded this to me already with a snarky
comment ...
Footnotes:
[1] http://miscellanea.wellingtongrey.net/
[2] http://www.apa.org/journals/features/psp7761121.pdf
--
Alok
An idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it.
