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I've always thought Dunning-Kruger is kind of bullshit. (I realize the irony in stating this.) In the study a bunch of people took four tests and then estimate

I've always thought Dunning-Kruger is kind of bullshit. (I realize the irony in stating this.) In the study a bunch of people took four tests and then estimated their score RELATIVE TO OTHER TEST TAKERS. That's bullshit! The test takers were 65 Cornell psychology undergraduates. Cornell is a great university. All 65 test takers are probably super smart! In fact, that might have all scored quite similarly. Forcing 65 high performers to estimate their relative score is bullshit. That's impossible! You don't have enough information about the other test takers. I think it would be far more interesting if test takers estimated their absolute score. Whether that score is better or worse than other test takers is irrelevant. But what do I know. I'm probably just incompetent and don't know it.

robocat 7y ago
The point of this article was too remind us that just because someone is smart in one area (Cornell psychology undergraduates) doesn't mean they are smart in another (humour was measured in original paper - have you read the DK paper?). The article makes the common mistake of ignoring the other side of the DK effect: the top quartile estimates their skill downwards. I like to say I am showing DK tendencies because I often underestimate my skills ;-)
- forrestthewoods 7y ago
  My unpopular opinion is that the majority of people who mention Dunning-Kruger or imposter syndrome are primarily just trying to humble brag. Full Duning-Kruger paper is here. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e320/9ca64cbed9a441e55568797cbd3683cf7f8c.pdf https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e320/9ca64cbed9a441e5556879... There is some commentary on raw test score estimation. Including this funny line: "Participants in the bottom quartile also overestimated their raw score on the test. On average, they thought they had answered 5.5 problems correctly. In fact, they had answered an average of 0.3 problems correctly" I wonder if the raw DK data is available? The paper includes a small handful of figures. There's quite a few more I'd like to render.
keithnz 7y ago
well given the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_crisis I think it's healthy to question psych experiment results. I think you'd want good evidence that this effect can be measured repeatedly and in different contexts.
orblivion 7y ago
> (I realize the irony in stating this.) Nah, if somebody called you out on it they'd be begging the question.

robocat 7y ago

The point of this article was too remind us that just because someone is smart in one area (Cornell psychology undergraduates) doesn't mean they are smart in another (humour was measured in original paper - have you read the DK paper?). The article makes the common mistake of ignoring the other side of the DK effect: the top quartile estimates their skill downwards. I like to say I am showing DK tendencies because I often underestimate my skills ;-)

forrestthewoods 7y ago
My unpopular opinion is that the majority of people who mention Dunning-Kruger or imposter syndrome are primarily just trying to humble brag. Full Duning-Kruger paper is here. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e320/9ca64cbed9a441e55568797cbd3683cf7f8c.pdf https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e320/9ca64cbed9a441e5556879... There is some commentary on raw test score estimation. Including this funny line: "Participants in the bottom quartile also overestimated their raw score on the test. On average, they thought they had answered 5.5 problems correctly. In fact, they had answered an average of 0.3 problems correctly" I wonder if the raw DK data is available? The paper includes a small handful of figures. There's quite a few more I'd like to render.

keithnz 7y ago

well given the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_crisis I think it's healthy to question psych experiment results. I think you'd want good evidence that this effect can be measured repeatedly and in different contexts.

orblivion 7y ago

> (I realize the irony in stating this.) Nah, if somebody called you out on it they'd be begging the question.