The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people with low ability or knowledge in a specific domain tend to overestimate their own competence in that domain, because the same lack of skill that produces poor performance also leaves them unable to recognize the poor performance. The pattern's mirror image also holds to a lesser degree: genuinely high performers sometimes slightly underestimate their own relative standing, assuming tasks that are easy for them are equally easy for others. It was first described by social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger in 1999, based on a series of tests of grammar, logic and humor.
Facts
Core ClaimPeople who are least skilled at a task are often the least able to recognize their own incompetence at it, and so rate their own ability the most inaccurately. 1 First Described Year Cross-Tradition Connections
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.