This curious syndrome or effect, as some call it, was established by the two psychologists who give it its name, Justin Kruger and David Dunning, both from Cornell University in New York.
I must say that it is a syndrome that fascinates me, and that since I know of its existence, you see it everywhere if you look well. The curious thing about this syndrome is that on some occasions, even being aware of it, we can all "sin" from having it at some point.
This phenomenon is mainly based on an individual's poor ability to recognize his own ineptitude, overestimating his incompetence and poor ability or knowledge.
It occurs mainly in individuals of poor intelligence and low culture, who paradoxically believe they know everything, always have the reason, can not see "beyond their nose" and don't have the ability to value positively the others' ability achievements with greater ability than them.
As Charles Darwin said:
Ignorance generates more confidence than knowledge.
According to the studies carried out on various subjects, four conclusions are drawn a priori:
- Incompetent individuals tend to overestimate their own ability.
- Incompetent individuals are unable to recognize the ability of others.
- Incompetent individuals are unable to recognize their extreme inadequacy.
- If they can be trained to substantially improve their own level of ability, these individuals may come to recognize and accept their lack of prior skills.
Since it is a syndrome that occurs in a large part of the population, and since intelligent people always doubt themselves, a person with intelligence will be surrounded by people of this type, who will further undermine their confidence and feel "out" of place.
Knowing this syndrome can help people with culture to realize it and try to cope with it; but beware because even the most intelligent can incur this syndrome at some point because you can be an expert on one subject or the most capable person in the world in another skill and yet not be able to realize that you are not so good on other thing.
We must also take into account that before negatively valuing someone's opinion we consider that he is not psychologically capable of being able to realize it.
Bertrand Russel said:
One of the dramas of our time is that those who feel they are right are stupid and that people with imagination and who understands reality is the one who doubts and most insecure feels.
And it is that, as a phrase somewhat less profound than the one above but no less certain, "there is no more blind than the one who does not want to see" and a clear example of this we can have it in the results of the studies that were made by the subjects in different subjects.
It turns out that after the examinations in this respect, the individuals who were overestimated took notes that placed them among the 12% of the worst, even they considered that their marks would be among the best 62%.
And this effect increases exponentially, when already at the height of the highs, the individual in question, even knowing himself wrong and even dare to say being aware of his small capacity, creates the greatest of fantasies to make himself believe that he is right and that is better than you. No matter how you put a black color in front of him, he will see white color and even catch people to see it also white as he does.
Anything before accepting their deficiency. Vanity and deep stupidity hands united in a dangerous combination.
The principle of Hanlon also called "Hanlon's razor" says so:
Never attribute to evil what can be explained by stupidity.
And knowing that it can be given more by stupidity than by evil (although in certain very special cases they complement and feed back), the solution to stupidity is sometimes simple: education.
The individual must be trained so that he can understand the problem and to realize that he did not understand before.
In any case, and since any of us may be to a greater or lesser degree suffering from this syndrome for some time, humility can help us to alleviate it along with the aforementioned formation.
Say that reading this article and knowing about this syndrome, will be for you just as it was for me, almost a curse, since you will start to see it everywhere and in a great amount of the population.
You may even be or that you were one of the members of the large percentage that make up these "blind people", but do not be discouraged, because thanks to this article and you realizing it, you will be on the way to be part of another more advanced group, precisely because we/you are able to see our/your limitations.
Sources:
http://hyperbole.es/2012/12/el-sindrome-de-dunning-kruger/
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efecto_Dunning-Kruger
http://disenosocial.org/el-efecto-dunning-kruger/
