The Dunning-Kruger Effect

When it comes to their skills and abilities, people tend to:

• Overrate themselves

• Underrate themselves

• Have roughly accurate impressions of what they can and cannot do

According to the Dunning-Kruger effect, people fail to recognise their deficits and shortcomings because:

• Other people avoid giving them negative feedback

• People refuse to acknowledge shortcomings that threaten their ego

• People fail to have the expertise necessary to recognise how bad their skills are

• People seek out flattery from other people

Poor performers suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect:

• Tend to rate their skills much more positively than experts rate theirs

• Tend to rate their skills almost as favourably as experts rate their own

• Tend to rate their skills as way below average

• Tend to rate their skills as permanent deficits that cannot change

What’s a possible way to gain an accurate self-image?

• Seek out feedback from others

• Always keep learning

• Both work

• Neither works

What mistake do experts make when evaluating their skills?

• They, too, overestimate their skills

• They tend to assume too much that everyone else is knowledgeable, too

• They tend to assume other people don’t know anything

• Experts forget just how quickly skills fades without practice