Good points. I feel like in the surgeon's case it's subtly but significantly different, though; these people aren't ignorant amateurs, they're highly trained pr

Good points. I feel like in the surgeon's case it's subtly but significantly different, though; these people aren't ignorant amateurs, they're highly trained professionals who do actual work on human bodies, with all the problem-solving skills and knowledge that implies. By all accounts they should be able to accurately assess their own abilities, as opposed to people affected by Dunning-Kruger. I think it's important to be mindful of hubris among the competent as well, perhaps more so because they are the ones actually doing the work in the end. The effects you talk about definitely exist and I feel like a lot of those are arrogance, or possibly even our fundamental inability to observe without bias unless we take very careful precautions ahead of time. Perhaps doctors otherwise used to proper experimental control and thinking scientifically didn't apply the same precautions ahead of meeting with sales reps, because that appeared to be out of context of practicing medicine at the time, even though it is still part of the process. Apparently they are affected by bias without being aware of it. This is wholly conjecture on my part.