Maddenation
Incompetent and Clueless
We’ve already discussed this kind of thing before in these pages, and it was fun. But we were conjecturing, ruminating, while Dr. David A Dunning was doing actual research! According to the NY Times’s Erica Goode, Dunning has determined that “Incompetent People Really Have No Clue; They’re blind to own failings, others’ skills.”
I like the straight talk of the article (and Dunning): no dancing around terms, no political correctness. You’ve got stupid people not even realizing they’re stupid. The one thing I don’t like, though, is how Dunning worries “I began to think that there were probably lots of things that I was bad at, and I didn’t know it.” Yeah, sure.
This article seems to prove a lot of cliches, like “It takes on to know one” or “The only thing I know is that I know nothing” (who was that, Socrates?) or “Ignorance is bliss.” But what it doesn’t answer is whether we should tell the incompetent people how bad they are, and would they listen anyway. So maybe we’re back where we started.
Patrick • Observations • 03/04/06 • 4 comments
Comments
David • 03/05/06 • 3:49 PM:I especially like the comment, “Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it.” Boy is that the truth.
The findings on low-ranking people self-assessing poorly fit right in with my experience as a teacher. Sometimes you get kids that think they did great and they end up totally bombing a test. It’s always the lowest acheiving kids. Never the top ones.
As for the finding involving humor - I KNOW that I’m hilarious. No need for a test!
And maybe we should change some social norms so that shouting out “YOU STINK!” is okay.
This article also begs the self-reflective question - “What am I below average at?”
Dad • 03/11/06 • 10:59 AM:I think Dunning’s research qualifies as more work done to confirm the obvious. I suppose there could be exceptions (idiot savants come to mind) but generally, a necessary condition for being able to create good art is to be able to recognize good art. Likewise, if you don’t understand physics, you don’t know how well you did on the test.
Humor is different, because it depends so much on “you had to be there” elements, and allusions to previous experience. Also, humor “wears out” with time, even if it was very funny the first time. The times I’ve laughed the longest and hardest were family/friends situations that were just silly, and “not really funny.” Sometimes just seeing someone else laugh makes you laugh for no other reason.
Science is a classic example of knowledge that merely generates more questions. I am reminded of a poem by “Bokonon,” a “calypso” character from Vonegut’s Cat’s Cradle:
David • 03/11/06 • 11:29 PM:Concepta.
Patrick • 03/14/06 • 3:13 PM:I was just reading in a book called The Last Street Before Cleveland by a guy I know named Joe Mackall, and he talks about a lady in his Catholic Church named Concepta. Could it be?
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