1999
Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments.
Abstract: People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it. Across 4 studies, the authors found that participants scoring in the bottom quartile on tests of humor, grammar, and l…
Search citation statements
Paper Sections
Select...
5,415
913
442
165
Citation Types
307
4,364
31
175
Year Published
1967
2026
Publication Types
Select...
4,873
772
639
203
Relationship
22
6,465
Authors
Journals
Cited by 6,200 publications
(4,888 citation statements)
References 64 publications
307
4,364
31
175
“…This could be due to the ceiling effect, that is, to the fact that our test of scientific knowledge was rather easy (mean score 15.49 out of 20). Despite that fact, the majority of our respondents underestimated (60%) their knowledge, which is quite atypical and in contrast with previous research on knowledge overestimation (Ackerman et al, 2002; Harvey, 1997; Kruger and Dunning, 1999). This could at least partially be due to the format of the question—we asked the respondents to estimate the absolute number of the correct answers they provided (out of 20), and not to compare their knowledge with the average member of the group or report the percentage of correct answers.…”
Section: Discussioncontrasting
confidence: 99%
“…This could be due to the ceiling effect, that is, to the fact that our test of scientific knowledge was rather easy (mean score 15.49 out of 20). Despite that fact, the majority of our respondents underestimated (60%) their knowledge, which is quite atypical and in contrast with previous research on knowledge overestimation (Ackerman et al, 2002; Harvey, 1997; Kruger and Dunning, 1999). This could at least partially be due to the format of the question—we asked the respondents to estimate the absolute number of the correct answers they provided (out of 20), and not to compare their knowledge with the average member of the group or report the percentage of correct answers.…”
Section: Discussioncontrasting
confidence: 99%
“…Conversely, middle performers predicted strong performances, but only scored moderately well and were moderately satisfied, possibly due to overestimation of their knowledge and abilities. This suggests that middle performers exhibit the largest metacognitive disconnect, which is inconsistent with previous studies that have identified low-performing students as demonstrating the most significant metacognitive disconnect due to the Dunning-Kruger effect (Kruger & Dunning, 1999;Ehrlinger et al, 2008;Sawdon & Finn, 2014;Steuber et al, 2017).…”
Section: Discussioncontrasting
confidence: 99%
“…Evidence from published literature suggests this may be due to task familiarity in the second assessment. This finding is in contrast to existing evidence, indicating that ‘learners’ tend to overestimate their abilities, although the authors of the study also reported that overestimation was generally attenuated by further training and increased self‐awareness of gaps in practice (which may be more particularly important with foundation – or less experienced – ‘learners’ and not generalisable to advanced, experienced practitioners).…”
Section: Discussioncontrasting
confidence: 99%
