"Encouraging Self-Doubt" in someone who is over-confident? I can encourage self-doubt when I begin to harbour some doubts but when I'm already over-confident -

"Encouraging Self-Doubt" in someone who is over-confident? I can encourage self-doubt when I begin to harbour some doubts but when I'm already over-confident - per definition - I am not able to do that. Actually psychologically it is way more nuanced. Overly confident people by suppressing any doubts can get caught in a trap - a negative feedback loop - where even trivial questions "How was your day?" can cast suspicion. [in the (extreme) edge case of stimulant (mis-)use full-blown paranoia is common]. For someone with a lack of confidence being on the opposite side of that spectrum encouraging self-doubt defeats the purpose [interestingly the edge case can also lead to paranoia]. Normally, most people find themselves neither on the one nor the other extreme (it is simply not sustainable). When someone has a tendency to be overconfident, yeah a cue like "encouraging self doubt" might help but a more sustainable approach would be to take a step back and ask yourself: Where does my tendency to be at times overconfident come from? Our "traits" are a complex result of adaptations to our environment (limited of course by our genetic contingencies) but by the time we become adults some of those get misaligned (in our "artificial" and fast-changing environment). So asking the question in which way did my overconfidence now served me as a good strategy before it morphed into "over"-confidence is a more constructive way forward because it takes into account both where "I" come from and where I "now" want to successfully go. That's what our prefrontal cortex simplistically speaking is all about. Not easy, it takes patience and long planning in advance but worth the effort to build up the resources. It gets way harder once you are older. This is something I mostly "encourage" young people (<25 yr: before the brain/prefrontal cortex is fully developed) to take into account.