Study: Dunning-Kruger in Groups by Steven Novella

[HuckleB]

Last edited Thu Nov 12, 2015, 04:33 PM - Edit history (1)

http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/dunning-kruger-in-groups/

"...

Despite these factors, in all of the experiments both participants displayed an equality bias – they overrated the lower-performing member and underrated the higher-performing member. This effect was seen with subjects in Denmark, Iran, and China in order to control for possible cultural differences. The studies were done only with men, however, to eliminate any gender bias as a confounding factor.

...

We can add the equality bias to the long list of biases and heuristics that humans tend to follow. I find the implications of this one, however, to be fairly complex. At least we should be aware of the bias and factor it into our decision-making.

It seems that one lesson from this research is that we need to be flexible and sensitive to context. We cannot always defer to expertise, neither should we never defer to expertise. We need to understand the context of any given situation. Are we here to exchange ideas, to learn, or to solve an immediate problem? How clear are we as to everyone’s experience and knowledge, and how relevant are they to the decision-making? What are our short term and long term goals, and what is their relative importance?

I also think this research suggests that as individuals we should strive to be less sensitive to having our opinions trumped by data. In my experience people often take it personally when they are told they are wrong, even when discussing a hard fact that has nothing to do with opinion. If we were more humble before facts, then we could optimize our short and long terms goals more effectively."


--------------------------


Interesting stuff.

[JI7]

1. link ?

[HuckleB]

2. Whoops. Sorry, I added it. Thanks!

Here it is, too: http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/dunning-kruger-in-groups/