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Dunning-Kruger effect has become the most abused and overused piece of pop psych in the history. God I wish we could just erased it from the collective vocabula

Dunning-Kruger effect has become the most abused and overused piece of pop psych in the history. God I wish we could just erased it from the collective vocabulary.

castlecrasher2 3y ago
Agreed, though I think it's reasonable to say the overuse is somewhat nice as it allows you to quickly identify who suffers from it and ignore them.
- smugglerFlynn 3y ago
  It seems your ability to practically apply the knowledge about Dunning-Kruger effect is suffering from Dunning-Kruger effect.
  - castlecrasher2 3y ago
    I suspect I'm spot on, and you're taking personal offence for that reason.
duxup 3y ago
All popular phrases go through that phase where it is recklessly used to the point that you don't know what anyone means by it. At some point it ends up being (for some people) a pejorative that you can read simply as "I don't like it". Dunning-Kruger certainly has reached that point, you have to really dig to figure out if they're just throwing the phrase around or they're applying it in a thoughtful manner. All sorts of phrases end up that way. "virtue signaling", a phrase I've never been a fan of has ended up that way too.
- ben_w 3y ago
  Indeed; to me, it seems that pejorative use of the phrase "virtue signalling" is itself an act of virtue signalling. And now the meta-question: did I just…
  - duxup 3y ago
    Yeah there's some thick irony of the sorta public call out aspect of declaring that someone is virtue signalling. To me "virtue signalling" even in it's more strict definition is often so close to just "communication" that I just don't see see the usefulness of the phrase. I get the idea that it usually implies that the person doing so is being insincere but I honestly think the better way to do that is just say they're being insincere and demonstrate why. Without showing why they're insincere it seems like it is just an empty phrase.
ThrowawayTestr 3y ago
Honestly. Has the original paper even been replicated?
vehemenz 3y ago
Imposter Syndrome isn't much better. In my experience, most "sufferers" are more likely to be in over their heads than intellectually humble. You need to be somewhat of an expert to understand your relative level in the first place. I'm not saying people don't belong, but that the feeling of insecurity, especially among young people, is more often than not justified.
coremoff 3y ago
Regardless of whether or not it's actually true, I think there are enough people who believe it to be true that it will stick around; and people believe it to be true because they think they see examples in real life - that's why I believe it to be a useful concept and believe it is a real thing. Obviously I could be as blind, or just wrong, as anyone.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
CipherThrowaway 3y ago
+1 and was looking for this comment. Pop-psych Dunning-Kruger concept is based on scant research, and the original paper doesn't even make the claim that people think it does. IMV DKE pop-psych is popular because it enables a kind of second-order superiority complex where you can say shit like, "Research shows that everyone who thinks they're smart is actually a huge dumbass. Actually the really smart ones are the anxiety ridden imposter syndrome devs like myself!" At least overconfidence and naked condescension required some courage. The insufferable new meta-game of superiority signalling seems to be feigned humility and hiding ego behind the affectation of "knowing how little you know."
mistermann 3y ago
Also Occam's Razor...I suspect the collective damage these two popular memes alone cause would be shocking if there was a way to see such things.
duckman1 3y ago
[dead]
TSUTiger 3y ago
Ah, I see what you did there!

Dunning-Kruger effect has become the most abused and overused piece of pop psych in the history. God I wish we could just erased it from the collective vocabulary.

castlecrasher2 3y ago

Agreed, though I think it's reasonable to say the overuse is somewhat nice as it allows you to quickly identify who suffers from it and ignore them.

smugglerFlynn 3y ago
It seems your ability to practically apply the knowledge about Dunning-Kruger effect is suffering from Dunning-Kruger effect.
- castlecrasher2 3y ago
  I suspect I'm spot on, and you're taking personal offence for that reason.

duxup 3y ago

All popular phrases go through that phase where it is recklessly used to the point that you don't know what anyone means by it. At some point it ends up being (for some people) a pejorative that you can read simply as "I don't like it". Dunning-Kruger certainly has reached that point, you have to really dig to figure out if they're just throwing the phrase around or they're applying it in a thoughtful manner. All sorts of phrases end up that way. "virtue signaling", a phrase I've never been a fan of has ended up that way too.

ben_w 3y ago
Indeed; to me, it seems that pejorative use of the phrase "virtue signalling" is itself an act of virtue signalling. And now the meta-question: did I just…
- duxup 3y ago
  Yeah there's some thick irony of the sorta public call out aspect of declaring that someone is virtue signalling. To me "virtue signalling" even in it's more strict definition is often so close to just "communication" that I just don't see see the usefulness of the phrase. I get the idea that it usually implies that the person doing so is being insincere but I honestly think the better way to do that is just say they're being insincere and demonstrate why. Without showing why they're insincere it seems like it is just an empty phrase.

ThrowawayTestr 3y ago

Honestly. Has the original paper even been replicated?

vehemenz 3y ago

Imposter Syndrome isn't much better. In my experience, most "sufferers" are more likely to be in over their heads than intellectually humble. You need to be somewhat of an expert to understand your relative level in the first place. I'm not saying people don't belong, but that the feeling of insecurity, especially among young people, is more often than not justified.

coremoff 3y ago

Regardless of whether or not it's actually true, I think there are enough people who believe it to be true that it will stick around; and people believe it to be true because they think they see examples in real life - that's why I believe it to be a useful concept and believe it is a real thing. Obviously I could be as blind, or just wrong, as anyone.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

CipherThrowaway 3y ago

+1 and was looking for this comment. Pop-psych Dunning-Kruger concept is based on scant research, and the original paper doesn't even make the claim that people think it does. IMV DKE pop-psych is popular because it enables a kind of second-order superiority complex where you can say shit like, "Research shows that everyone who thinks they're smart is actually a huge dumbass. Actually the really smart ones are the anxiety ridden imposter syndrome devs like myself!" At least overconfidence and naked condescension required some courage. The insufferable new meta-game of superiority signalling seems to be feigned humility and hiding ego behind the affectation of "knowing how little you know."

mistermann 3y ago

Also Occam's Razor...I suspect the collective damage these two popular memes alone cause would be shocking if there was a way to see such things.

duckman1 3y ago

[dead]

TSUTiger 3y ago

Ah, I see what you did there!