I believe this Wikipedia entry is the single best summation of the publishing industry - and indeed, the human condition itself - I've ever run across...
The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which "people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it".[1] The unskilled therefore suffer from illusory superiority, rating their own ability as above average, much higher than in actuality; by contrast, the highly skilled underrate their abilities, suffering from illusory inferiority. This leads to a perverse result where less competent people will rate their own ability higher than more competent people. It also explains why actual competence may weaken self-confidence because competent individuals falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding. "Thus, the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others."
“ In the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. ”
— Bertrand Russell
Yep. So what's gonna be the prescription Dr Chad?
ReplyDeleteSBW
So, this makes me wonder... which archetype am I?
ReplyDeleteWell, Scampwalker, I believe there should be a third category: those who are indeed imcompetent but recognize that fact and wisely compensate accordingly.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty much me...
Indeed, this puts into words a problem I face daily. What gets me is the absolute conviction of the ignorant. You know of the multiple intelligences - it seems the most convinced are those who have wide ranging ignorances... if that's a word.
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