Dunning-Kruger effect

plural Dunning-Kruger effects

1. human sciencesA cognitive bias where an individual with limited knowledge or competence in a specific domain tends to greatly overestimate their own ability relative to objective criteria or the performance of others.

   Though it grants them the advantage of higher levels of optimism, the Dunning-Kruger effect also hamstrings low performers with an even greater disadvantage: being less aware of their failings, they remain less likely to see the need, and thus make the effort, to improve themselves.

   2012, Alex Lickerman, The Undefeated Mind, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN

   1 more example

   [Prince] Andrew, unfortunately, exhibited classic symptoms of what is scientifically recognised as the Dunning-Kruger effect, the cognitive bias in which people come to believe that they are smarter and more capable than they really are. The combination of minimal self-awareness and dim wattage leads sufferers of this condition to overestimate their own capabilities.

   2022, Tina Brown, The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor—the Truth and the Turmoil, Crown, →ISBN

   Synonyms: DKE, Dunning-Kruger, Dunning-Kruger bias