Smart people are those who are dunning

Dealing with smart people may make you feel uncomfortable, or even annoyed. In the world of psychology, people who feel that they are smart are those who are experiencing the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

The people affected by this effect feel superior to their knowledge and abilities. In fact, they do not realize that their level of knowledge and ability is still far below that of others.

Why does someone get Dunning-Kruger Effect ?

Source: Luvze

In 1999, two psychologists named David Dunning and Justin Kruger conducted a series of studies on logical abilities, grammar, and a sense of humor.

They found that participants with low results rated their abilities above average.

In the sense of humor research, for example, some participants showed poor ability to determine how funny an object was.

Uniquely, this group of participants felt that their sense of humor was excellent.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect is a phenomenon when a person misjudges his abilities. They feel greater, smarter, and superior.

At the same time, they may find other people's opinions stupid, unwarranted, and completely wrong.

Based on these results, people who experience the Dunning-Kruger Effect are actually faced with two problems.

First, their conclusions about some information are not necessarily correct, or even completely wrong.

Second, limited knowledge makes them unaware of this mistake. As a result, they do not take the initiative to double-check the truth of their own opinion or the information they receive.

Negative effects of the Dunning-Kruger Effect

The Dunning-Kruger Effect is quite a worry. The reason is, people who experience it may believe wrong information. Then he confidently passed it on to others.

They also have a harder time accepting criticism because they believe that their opinions are always right.

In one study, Dunning and Kruger coined a number of terms that actually had no meaning. They make up terms related to politics, biology, physics, and geography.

As a result, about 90 percent of the participants claimed that they understood some of these artificial terms.

He concluded that people who are familiar with a topic tend to claim that they understand the terms in it.

These findings cover only a few areas. In fact, the Dunning-Kruger Effect is a complex phenomenon that can appear anywhere.

The risk is of course great if this effect extends to other vital matters such as health, governance, finance, and so on.

Features of the Dunning-Kruger Effect and how to avoid it

The Dunning-Kruger Effect can happen to anyone, even people who are quite skilled in a particular field.

This is because when someone gets a piece of information from a topic, that information makes him feel knowledgeable.

For example, your friend may be very into politics and understand the various terms in it. He likes to find information about politics and share it with others.

However, every time he received new information, it made him feel more knowledgeable than other people.

In the end he ignored other people's opinions and considered himself to be right. This attitude is a hallmark of the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

You can actually avoid Dunning-Kruger effect by always double checking the correctness of the information obtained.

Instead of receiving information right away, ask yourself if the information is correct.

You can also discuss or ask friends or other people who have expertise in similar fields.

Ask them for constructive criticism, then continue to learn more about the topic you are passionate about.