Looks like the difference between perceived and actual scores fit the popular understanding. The people who perform the worst have the most inflated perception

Looks like the difference between perceived and actual scores fit the popular understanding. The people who perform the worst have the most inflated perception of their performance, while the people who perform the best underestimate their performance. I think people take Dunning-Kruger and apply it to their everyday anecdotes. They are thinking in terms of relative differences rather than absolute, and thus the pop-sci understanding may not be that far off from the original.