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The dunning cruger effect is the fact that all human beings are unaware of how unskilled and unaware they are. The evidence suggests that we all have this complicated relationship with our own ignorance. We live in a world that gives us misinformation or doesn't give us crucial information. Knowing thyself is an intrinsically difficult task. What we're bad at often gives us misleading information. And often we're guilty of misleading ourselves. That's what it comes down to. If you've ever been confronted with the fact that you were in over your head, or you had no idea what you were doing, then you may have experienced this effect. It is very easy to be both unskill and unaware

In this episode, we explore why we are unaware that we lack the skill to tell how unskilled and unaware we are.

The evidence gathered so far by psychologists and neuroscientists seems to suggest that each one of us has a relationship with our own ignorance, a dishonest, complicated relationship, and that dishonesty keeps us sane, happy, and willing to get out of bed in the morning. Part of that ignorance is a blind spot we each possess that obscures both our competence and incompetence called the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

It's a psychological phenomenon that arises sometimes in your life because you are generally very bad at self-assessment. If you have ever been confronted with the fact that you were in over your head, or that you had no idea what you were doing, or that you thought you were more skilled at something than you actually were – then you may have experienced this effect. It is very easy to be both unskilled and unaware of it, and in this episode we explore why that is with professor David Dunning, one of the researchers who coined the term and a scientist who continues to add to our understanding of the phenomenon.

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