Article of the Week 26: Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments

An interesting study has come out from Cornell University, titled, Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments. In a comprehensive analysis of four separate studies, the writers analyzed their hypothesis that the incompetence one has in a certain area leads a person to not be able to recognize his or her own incompetence. This incompetence was measured in areas such as humor, grammar, and logic. The actual results of individuals were compared to their own estimates of their percentiles in comparison to others taking the test. The first through third quartile predicted results above their ability presumably because of their lacking metacognative abilities in this area. The highest quartile surprisingly guessed a lower score for themselves in comparison to others. This was assumed to occur because the highest quartile had none with whom to compare their own results.

This article was written in the form of a scientific report. As such, it was slightly dry by nature. Nevertheless, the topic led to interest. The article was extremely convincing because of the wealth of citations and analysis of data. A full two pages were dedicated to bibliographic citations. In addition, the report made a little appeal to ethos at the end of the piece, making a quip at the authors' own incompetence. "Although we feel we have done a competent job in making a strong case for this analysis, studying it empirically, and drawing out relevant implications, our thesis leaves us with one haunting worry that we cannot vanquish. ... Let us assure our readers that to the extent this article is imperfect, it is not a sin we have committed knowingly." Maybe this is not a joke most would laugh at, now that I see it again, but I found it to fit in with the mood of the piece.