What Is an Example of the Dunning-Kruger Effect?

It is a common tendency for some people to overestimate their competence in one or other areas. They may exhibit utmost confidence in areas where they have no knowledge. This effect is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. The Dunning-Kruger effect was coined after two psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger. It is defined as a type of cognitive bias whereby people with limited knowledge or competence in a specific area largely overestimate their knowledge.

A cognitive bias refers to the unfounded belief that many of us have, often without realizing it.

The cause for this effect may be a lack of self-awareness or self-assessments. People often forget to self-assess, as in where their knowledge or skill stands in a particular domain. This lack of self-awareness may be attributed to metacognition. Metacognition is the ability to evaluate your knowledge as well as the gaps in the knowledge. People with less skill have less metacognitive ability, which is necessary to induce awareness about their incompetence. However, people with higher competence have more metacognitive ability to understand their skills.

Another cause, which Dunning proposes, is the “double burden” associated with little expertise in a given domain. Without expertise, it is hard to perform well. Also, it is hard to know that you are underperforming unless you have the expertise. This double curse of being unskilled and unaware makes the less competent overestimate their competency, knowledge, skills, talents, etc.

When you try to identify the Dunning-Kruger effect, it is essential to know that it can affect anyone, including you. No one can claim expertise in every domain. You can have significant knowledge about a particular area and have a knowledge gap in other areas. Moreover, the Dunning-Kruger effect isn’t a sign of low intelligence because smart people can also fall prey to the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Here are a few ways that you can practice to overcome the Dunning-Kruger effect, which includes:

• Think before jumping to any conclusions: Always take time to ponder your ability before jumping to conclusions. In this way, you could prevent overestimating your competence.
• Accept criticism: At work, it is important to accept criticism and work on those criticisms.
• Question about the knowledge: Challenge yourself by routinely questioning your knowledge base and the conclusions you draw. It would help you realize how wrong you are.