040 Dunning-Kruger Effect
A tendency for unskilled people to overestimate their competence and performance.
• Incompetent people lack the knowledge and experience to recognize their own incompetence, as well as the competence of others.
• This creates a vicious cycle: An incompetent person can’t perceive their own incompetence because they are incompetent; and overcoming incompetence requires the ability to distinguish skill levels, which is an ability they lack.
• Conversely, highly competent people tend to underestimate their abilities and performance, and overestimate the skills of others.
• Combat the Dunning-Kruger effect by teaching the inexperienced how to discern competence from incompetence. Provide regular feedback and critiques to promote the development of self-assessment skills.
See Also Crowd Intelligence • Design by Committee Hanlon’s Razor • Not Invented Here
