What is the Dunning-Kruger effect and examples

  • Apr 22, 2022
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What is the Dunning-Kruger effect and examples

"People speak without knowing." This expression can be true depending on the people we surround ourselves with, since it is not the same to talk to someone with a fruitful experience of life or with a person who has no knowledge regarding the theme. However, there are people who try to highlight their skills in different areas with some continuity despite not having a good performance.

This condition can lead to it becoming a problem that generates obstacles in different activities of daily life. Therefore, it is necessary to address this issue in depth to have a better understanding of the subject. Do you want to know more about this? In this Psychology-Online article, we will provide you with information about what is the Dunning-Kruger effect and examples.

When alluding to the Dunning-Kruger effect, we are referring to a condition by which there is a tendency to overestimate abilities despite low performance in some exercise.

In other words, this concept corresponds to an erroneous belief about the performance that a person has in any of the areas that they carry out. In this sense, it should be clarified that it is not a voluntary act linked to lying, but to

a distortion in the perception of one's abilities.

What is the Dunning-Kruger effect and examples - What is the Dunning-Kruger effect

Dunning-Kruger syndrome presents some peculiarities that allow it to be detected from certain manifestations that appear both in emotions and in behaviors and thoughts. For this reason, we will talk here about how to know if you have Dunning-Kruger syndrome:

  • Overestimation of own abilities.
  • Belief of being better in certain areas than other people with greater abilities.
  • Difficulties in recognizing own mistakes.
  • Exacerbated feeling of superiority over others.
  • tendency to seek recognition from other persons.
  • Difficulties in accepting the abilities of others.

Beyond the description about the qualities of this condition, it is important to mention that the The presence of any of them does not necessarily mean that the person has the syndrome. Dunning-Kruger. It is transcendental that the diagnosis be carried out by a health professional since he will be in charge of carrying out a comprehensive evaluation of the patient.

In the event that you have seen yourself reflected in these behaviors or thoughts, do not worry, as I have already mentioned. above, Dunning-Kruger syndrome does not concern a voluntary act linked to lying and can be worked on linked behaviors. For this, we recommend you consult our post How to be more humble and simple.

To provide greater precision about the Dunning-Kruger effect, we will describe two examples in order to understand this concept:

Example #1 of the Dunning-Kruger effect

A woman has attended an advertising congress in which it is mentioned that the predominance of the color red in beverage advertisements is associated with greater product sales. For this reason, this woman could have a firm belief about the fact that all advertisements should have the color red as the main stimulus for products to have greater profitability.

However, the truth is that red is not always associated with this concept since it will depend on the contextual situation that arises. And, therefore, this person does not have all the necessary knowledge to use the color red in advertising even though she has attended this congress.

Example #2 of the Dunning-Kruger effect

A man performs physical preparation to run a 20-kilometer marathon for a month. By participating in this event, he obtains a favorable result for his performance. From this specific fact, you could adopt the belief that one-month physical preparations are effective for all people who want to participate in marathons.

However, here it is not taken into account that there are certain factors that have a marked incidence with respect to each person. In this sense, aspects such as age, sex, pre-existing diseases, family and personal medical history, among others, must be taken into consideration.

The most relevant of these examples resides in overriding professional judgment someone with more knowledge on the subject. Likewise, these people could detract from the referential ideas coming from both advertising and physical training to highlight personal beliefs.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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