Saturday, November 16, 2019

Confidence that feels like knowledge

Going back a bit to 1999, psychologist David Dunning, PhD, and his graduate student, Justin Kruger, published their research that in their own words revealed, "incompetent people ... cannot recognize just how incompetent they are."

Now, this isn't to suggest that most, or even a lot of us, are incompetent. That's not the point. The point is we all suffer from cognitive bias. We all believe we are smarter and more capable than we really are. (*)

Incompetence doesn't leave individuals with empty thoughts. They don't feel disillusioned or even cautious. [editorial: Yikes! incompetent and not cautious .... bad karma!]

Stephens goes on:

Inappropriate confidence
Dunning explained that instead, the incompetent are filled with inappropriate confidence that feels to them like knowledge.

The result is people tend to overestimate their skill. They fail to recognize their own mistakes or lack of skill.

They are also poor judges of genuine skill or the expertise of others

Sum it up
So, let's see. If your manager or leader is "full of knowledge", not cautious about risky adventure, and seems to pick poorly equipped or skilled people, then you conclude: Incompetent!

(*) Extracted from an article on "MedPage Today" by Phillip Stephens, DHSC, PA-C

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