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Week 9 [21.12-10.01.2021] - Why incompetent people think they're amazing

Nowadays, there are a lot of people around who are often confident in their knowledge and abilities no matter what. This can be annoying or even very inconvenient, for example, in the professional field. But what is the root of this problem? Is someone personally responsible for such delusions, or is it an integral part of their nature? Well, if you are even a little interested, I suggest you watch this video.

 

  1. Did you know about the Dunning-Kruger effect before and the level of its influence? 
  2. Have you experienced it by yourself or maybe you were in the opposite situation? 
  3. What do you think about mentioned ways to avoid this effect? Do you want to add something? 

Comments

Before watching the video I had no idea about the Dunning-Kruger effect and the level of its influence. On one hand I am the kind of person who always tells everyone to be positive, to be confident, to always think the best about yourself. But on the other hand people who are terrible at something but think that they are the best really annoy me, but I don’t have the heart to take away their happiness and tell them that they are not as great as they think… Sometimes I find myself in really frustrating situations, like the one with my friend, who entrusted her entire career to music. It makes her really happy, she has singing lessons and even tries to teach others. At the same time she is terrible. Like honestly, when she sings she is out of tune 99% of the time. I do not know her well enough to do anything about it but I am really surprised that none of her close friends told her anything… It is the problem that people think they are the best and others do not have the heart to tell them the truth. At the same time I think that the resolution to not to find yourself in such a position is to listen to Shawn Mendes, my favorite singer’s advice, who said that we should never feel like we have achieved what we wanted to achieve. To never think that we are already good enough. To always practice and always want more and this way you are learning all the time, you are becoming the best version of yourself and you will never be this kind of person who thinks that they are already the best. They said in the video that the good thing is to ask for advice from other people and I think it is amazing. However, you need to know the right person. I found myself in situations where I was proud of my work but my parents made me realize that I could do better. I wasn’t happy about it but after some time I realized they were right and I am grateful for them being honest. However, going back to my singer friend situation, I just do not understand why no one told her to stop making fun of herself. She posts her songs on spotify, youtube, she is performing and any time she starts to sing everyone is just like WTF. On one hand it is cool that her friends support her career no matter what and help her recording songs and other stuff, maybe they do not want to ruin her dreams? But on the other.. Come on, someone should tell her...
1 & 2. Yes, I have already heard about it. A friend of mine once told me about it when I talked with him about the depressing fact that the more we learn, the less we know. I have probably chosen one of the most depressing fields in IT and it results in a constant feeling of not understanding anything, constant failures, and success from time to time - which is not enough to keep a person aware of its skills. I think the whole problem is simply described in this chart: https://realizebeauty.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/dunning-kruger-effect-agile-coffee-web.jpg

3. My answer will partially base on the chart I mentioned above. When being on the left side of the chart - don't think that you know something after watching one YouTube video and reading an article. Usually, it is more complicated, but you didn't yet have a space to learn it. When you get further on the chart - learn and listen to the opinions of the experts. The experts are people who have experience in a field you learn, the researchers etc. I think there is no other way to get through the depressive hole of not knowing and understanding anything. You have to learn, learn, and learn even more. What happens if you are on the top? You won't believe you are there, but you can be already happy with your experience. Try to not work alone - if you help somebody, you might notice that "hey, I helped him with a problem that was too complex for him, so I probably really know a bit of this topic!". Share your knowledge - you will learn even more while researching things you publish and you will get the satisfaction of helping others. That is a real boost of confidence. Lastly, don't take it too seriously. Be happy wherever you are. See your progress but don't demand everything at once.
1. Did you know about the Dunning-Kruger effect before and the level of its influence?

I knew that people usually tend to think of themselves better than of the rest, but I didn't know it has a name, and that it's something that has so many reasons to occur.

2. Have you experienced it by yourself or maybe you were in the opposite situation?

I think that usually I think less about myself. I have a lot of artistic hobbies, and in each of them I can recognise how many things I don't know and I can't do. But even if I know that, it doesn't stop me from doing them, so I guess it's not a bad way of living. It keeps me motivated to study.

3. What do you think about mentioned ways to avoid this effect? Do you want to add something?

The advise presented in the video made sense, but we can't learn everything on a master level, so I guess that there will be always some fields in which we are going to see ourselves in a better light.
Saloni Nayi said…
Yes, I have heard about Dunning-Kruger effect. I feel People are not just incompetent; they are deprived by their ignorance of the emotional capacity to know how inept they are. Incompetent individuals appear to overestimate their own degree of ability.

I think I have experienced it, because whenever I feel myself underconfident than I pretend myself clever and smart enough.So, I don't think it is that bad think.

The video represent lots of things which is good to know but we can not follow everything. It is depend on person to person , people have different thoughts , idea, Mentality, Sense and Attitude. I would say we all want to see ourselves in one in a million. We can predict it there is no doubt we can not omit it. we are human being ups and downs are made to face for us, we can not be perfect ,but we could be better. So, it is fine to motivate ourselves but we should not change our nature. I feel people remember us my how we behave with them and how we treat them. When too many conflicting ideas about your existence start crossing your mind, try to look at the positives of your past endeavors and how successfully you managed to handle a demanding situation.
Bui Ky Anh said…
1. Did you know about the Dunning-Kruger effect before and the level of its influence?
It is my first time hearing about that psygolocical effect and It sounds really reasonably. I can notice that people like to be seen like experts because they seek for authority and respect from others even if they do not have knowledge about some particular field. That is why we tend to speak a lot when we have too little to say. The worst part in this is the fact that we believe in what we are doing. It is like lying to ourselves.

2. Have you experienced it by yourself or maybe you were in the opposite situation?
As a person who strongly develop modesty in myself I rather rate myself low then high. But I can notice in some situations like for example during conversations or argument that sometimes I try to speak like I know better when I clearly do not.

3. What do you think about mentioned ways to avoid this effect? Do you want to add something?
I totally agree with the speaker. I can add only from myself to not be afraid of making mistakes, because it is from what we learn the most.
Filip Bartuzi said…

1.Did you know about the Dunning-Kruger effect before and the level of its influence?

Yes, I was already familiar with the concept for many years. I think it's a very common topic to be discussed in my (or shall I say our?) field, i.e. computer science. Or at least it is in my environment. I think we, as IT specialists, are especially influenced by it as our work and performance are really hard to measure. I believe in other fields you can use metrics to somewhat estimate your performance - ROI for investors, crop size for farmers, or won races by the sportsman. Metrics commonly used in IT are very subjective, it's hard to rely on or relate to them for everyone - both managers and blue-collar workers.

2.Have you experienced it by yourself or maybe you were in the opposite situation?

Yes, I can definitely see myself moving with the curve in the past years. I can see my over-confidence from my junior years and I hear I undervalue myself currently.

3.What do you think about the mentioned ways to avoid this effect? Do you want to add something?

Interesting, I haven't caught any bits of advice in the video, even after my second rewatch. So, just from my personal experience, when new to the field be respectful of experts in the field. Appreciate them, don't undervalue, listen, and learn. Have respect for your incompetence. Spot it and don't go over confidence in your judgment. Reach out for external sources to validate your current perspective on knowledge (depending on the field)
Pawel Bluszcz said…
1. As for the phenomenon presented in the film, it was not new to me. It is true that people overestimate their skills especially in "highly developed" countries. This pathology was imposed on them by their keepers.

2. No, however narcissistic it may not sound, I think that I am able to perfectly match my skills. I don't tell other people about things I can't.

3. In my opinion there is only one way to avoid this effect. If we know something, we talk about it, and if we cannot, it is better not to be silent and not lie to others. The Dunning-Kruger effect is nothing but truthfulness.
Did you know about the Dunning-Kruger effect before and the level of its influence? 

No, I've never heard bout this phenomenon before.

Have you experienced it by yourself, or maybe you were in the opposite situation? 

No, I've never done that. It's a stupid approach because telling people about skills which actually don't have got, come to light in the end. 

What do you think about mentioned ways to avoid this effect? Do you want to add something? 

I agree, and I really like this point from the movie to make the mistakes. The bugs and errors which are made by us let us to become a better labour, person, etc. 
Roman Burlaka said…
As I see, a lot of people here either have heard about this effect or experienced it without knowing a name as was mentioned, for example, by @Kinga Kwiatkowska. Well, you know, I think anything that was observed by anyone has its own name. And even a classification.

Here are also many answers about underestimating themselves. In my opinion, it's also a common situation but its origin is based more on how you were raised, were your parents strict or not and so on. It's not 100% of impact, but such things has a strong correlation. Although, @Filip Bartuzi and @Marcin Węgłowski have mentioned that working in IT field can be more difficult if to talk about understanding if you're competent enough.

Also, I want to redirect the advice from @Pawel Bluszcz to @Magdalena Pierzchała, who has written a real-life story about musician friend. Maybe honesty is the best way and you shouldn't wait that someone who is "close enough" wil tell her. Yeah, you definitely shouldn't say it everyday, but you can try at least once.

Did you know about the Dunning-Kruger effect before and the level of its influence?

I didn't know about the Dunning Kruger effect but I already knew that there is something like this going on. Around two tears ago I realised that the more you know about the world the more aware you become about the things that you don't know about. For example, if you know just a little bit about cycling you think that you are an expert and that there is not much more to learn. On the other hand if you know a lot about cycling, you are aware that there is HUGE amount of information that you have to obtain to become an expert. Seems like I had pretty much the same point of view as Dunning and Krueger but Without, you know, science stuff.

Have you experienced it by yourself or maybe you were in the opposite situation?

I am sure that I have been on the opposite situation a lot of times in my life but since I become older I realised that I shouldn't argue about something that I don't really know. I have, however, argued many times with ignorant people who thought that they are experts. I don't know why but it always drives me mad.

What do you think about mentioned ways to avoid this effect? Do you want to add something?

I think that being humble might be the way to go. Know your weaknesses and avoid arrogance. Be honest with people and people should also be honest with you while giving you feedback.
Illia Kalinin said…
Did you know about the Dunning-Kruger effect before and the level of its influence?

Interesting topic! I have noticed the similar tendency in humans behavior before watching the video, but I did not know how to explain it to myself scientifically.

Have you experienced it by yourself or maybe you were in the opposite situation?

Many people act the same in the beginning of their adult life, I assume this happens because of lack of experience in comparison themselves with other people.

What do you think about mentioned ways to avoid this effect? Do you want to add something?

The video clearly explains this effect, I totally agree that 'learning on mistakes' approach works best for the majority of people.
s16427 said…
1) I;ve heard before about Dunning-Kruger effect. It' funny actually , but first itme I've heard about it, was when I was reading comments below some meme. Later on, I've read some papers about it and it really changed my mindset on multiple topics. Making mistakes because of lack of knowledge, and by same lack of knowledge, being unable to identify reason of those mistakes? Brilliant!

2) I think I've experinced it when it comes to programming. At the beginning, when I learned most basics, I thought that I know most of there is, when it comes to IT. Bpy oh boy I was wrong. When I gained some more knowledge, I become more and more unsure of my skills.

3) Its a good question. I think that beside what is mentioned in the video, they key to avoid it is to stay humble and be sure of your skills. I know it sounds like exact things that cause the effect itself, but it's the best advice I have.

I can just add that whole effect can be described by chart, with parabole of knowledge vs thinking how much we know. At the start we dont know anything, although we think we know it all. And later, the more we know, the more unsure of our own knowledge we become.
Jakub Parteka said…
1. Did you know about the Dunning-Kruger effect before and the level of its influence?

No, I was not aware of Dunning-Kruger effect but I knew that many people think that they are good at something but then it turns out to be the opposite. I did not know it is connected to this effect, to be honest I thought that it was cause by people’s characters, overestimation of their abilities or not being able to admit that they do not know something (even to themselves).

2. Have you experienced it by yourself or maybe you were in the opposite situation?
I think that all of us did experience it one way or another. It is hard to see your own mistakes that is why I try to ask for opinion another people to constantly improve. I also openly tell people their mistakes if they are eager to learn from them but as you probably assumed sometimes it can be received as being mean.

3. What do you think about mentioned ways to avoid this effect? Do you want to add something?

I think those ways are great, even though the second advise (constant learning) is obvious in my opinion. I could add that it is important to be honest with yourself and try to be objective regarding yours skills and yes, I am aware that it is hard.
1. Did you know about the Dunning-Kruger effect before and the level of its influence?
Yes I have heard about that effect before, when you are confident in your skills and then it turns out that you are not.
2. Have you experienced it by yourself or maybe you were in the opposite situation?
Yes many times. It is very common for me when it comes to programming or exam, seems like you know everything but when I need to do I don't know how to start and what to do, so it is my mistake
3. What do you think about mentioned ways to avoid this effect? Do you want to add something?
I think the video is great and given advices are very useful, the main idea I have got it is always learning
Grzegorz Rostek said…
1. Did you know about the Dunning-Kruger effect before and the level of its influence?
I was aware of it, but I didn't knew this effect by it's name.

2. Have you experienced it by yourself or maybe you were in the opposite situation?
Sometimes I can overestimate my abilities, and give myself less time for a task than I actually need. But usually I tend to underestimate my abilities.

3. What do you think about mentioned ways to avoid this effect? Do you want to add something?
I think that the ways to avoid this effect mentioned in the video are logical, and it's something that can really benefit a person.
1. Did you know about the Dunning-Kruger effect before and the level of its influence?
No, I did not know about the Dunning-kruger effect and how influential it could be on people. However, am very pleased that it was shared here as I will try to implement it in my life and share it with the people around me.

2. Have you experienced it by yourself or maybe you were in the opposite situation?
I can not precise when I experienced this but am pretty sure I did because it’s a very common behavior to have and can be done intentionally or without one’s conscious. I could say that I have been on the opposite side as well because it’s easier to see when someone has this behavior than evaluating the same thing to yourself.

3. What do you think about mentioned ways to avoid this effect? Do you want to add something?
I completely agree with the idea of being open to receiving criticism from others and accepting it positively. Once one is able to accept them to be criticized and using it as an opportunity to correct themselves and learn, it’s the way forward to actually being good or better at that particular thing than it is just an assumption. I would add that we as humans should accept that we can not be experts or perfect in everything thing which is okay too.
I’ve never heard these two names and I had no idea that someone already has done serious research considering those graphs & diagrams, which we sometimes make jokes about – when I see an article with some figures saying that the majority of society is above the average, I wish they all recall the Socratic paradox: ‘I know that I know nothing’.
I am the kind of person that usually questions my own abilities. It’s more likely I would say that I’m not good enough than the opposite.
I think that using some reliable certificates can be helpful in establishing one’s knowledge level. We have plenty of standardized tests (such as matura exams) and courses that end with some diplomas. This may be one of the options to prove one’s level of knowledge.

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