The Dunning-Kruger effect is the finding that the poorest performers are the least aware of their own incompetence.
The reason for the Dunning-Kruger effect seems to be that poor performers fail to learn from their mistakes.
The proposed solution is that the incompetent should be directly told they are incompetent.
Dunning-Kruger Effect
Unfortunately the problem with the Dunning-Kruger effect is that incompetent people have probably been getting this type of feedback for years and failed to take much notice.
As Socrates once said:
“The only true wisdom is to know that you know nothing.”
But even this can go too far.
It turns out that people with real talent tend to underestimate just how good they are.
The root of this bias is that clever people tend to assume other people find things as easy as they do, when actually this is their talent shining through.
Maybe it’s just that they are more vocal, now, but it seems like we have more stupid people than we had in the past.
Way back in the good ol days, peer pressure tended to deal with stupid people by informing them early and often that they were morons. If they were capable of learning, then peer pressure would give them enough grief to at least give them a hint of where they messed up and how to improve.
In more recent years, the ‘everybody gets a trophy’/‘every opinion matters’/‘feelings matter’ philosophy has seriously reduced the effect of peer pressure on dealing with stupid people. As a result, we have stupid people banding together and proudly displaying their stupidity, shouting down any attempts to tell them how stupid they are. Things have gotten bad enough that they’ve been elected to Congress and are now telling more intelligent people that they are in charge, now.
Different people learn in different ways. Some can read a book and understand the topic. Others have to have the topic verbally explained to them, before they understand it. Others have to get their hands dirty and try the topic themselves, before they understand it. And yes, there are some that can try to learn by all three of those methods, but still have no clue that they are failing to understand the topic, until they are mercilessly told that they are dumber than a rock.
Society is now failing that last group. Instead of trying every possible means of correcting their stupidity, society attempts to protect them from any negative results, and at least in some cases praises them for their stupidity. With this positive feedback for their stupidity, they continue down their moronic path, seeking greater levels of stupidity to share with the world (which leads to the question of are there more stupid people, or are they just making themselves more noticeable?).
Which is more cruel? Telling an idiot that they are stupid and need to improve themself, or praising an idiot and encouraging their eventual failure?
@JPN whether you realize it or not, you’re talking about VARK in part of your post:
To know thyself and one’s limitations does seem to be lost on today’s youth, therefore I agree with much of the principled frustrations you’ve articulated.
Parting shot: High intelligence is a curse. There’s days I envy the carefree dolt, unencumbered by the constraints of knowledge. Based on a lifetime of empirical observation the saying, “Ignorance is Bliss” certainly rings true.
Parting shot: High intelligence is a curse. There’s days I envy the carefree dolt, unencumbered by the constraints of knowledge.
I used to agree with you; however, with age, I am increasingly finding that I am the carefree dolt unencumbered by the constraints of knowledge - and it has its upsides!
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