Dunning-Kruger effect

English

Etymology

Coined by British clinical psychologist Vaughan Bell in 2006 on Wikipedia, based on the earlier name Dunning-Kruger syndrome (coined by Wikipedia user Uucp in 2005), named for David Dunning and Justin Kruger of Cornell University, who studied the phenomenon.

Noun

Dunning-Kruger effect (plural Dunning-Kruger effects)

1. (psychology) A cognitive bias by which an unskilled individual suffers from illusory superiority, mistakenly rating their ability as much higher than it actually is.

   Synonyms: (initialism) DKE, (abbreviation) Dunning-Kruger, Dunning-Kruger bias

   • 2012, Alex Lickerman, The Undefeated Mind‎^[1], Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

     Though it grants them the advantage of higher levels of optimism, the Dunning-Kruger effect also hamstrings low performers with an even greater disadvantage: being less aware of their failings, they remain less likely to see the need, and thus make the effort, to improve themselves.

See also

• a little knowledge is a dangerous thing
• Lake Wobegon effect

Further reading

• Dunning–Kruger effect on Wikipedia.Wikipedia