Quote for the day
"Research from numerous corners of psychological inquiry suggests that self-assessments of skill and character are often flawed in substantive and systematic ways ... On average, people say they are 'above average' in skill (a conclusion that defies statistical possibility), overestimate the likelihood that they will engage in desirable behaviors and achieve favorable outcomes, furnish overly optimistic estimates of when they will complete future projects, and reach judgments with too much confidence ... People are unrealistically optimistic about their own health risks compared with those of other people ... [S]tudents' assessments of their performance tend to agree only moderately with those of their teachers or mentors ... In the workplace, flawed self-assessments arise all the way up the corporate ladder."
David Dunning, Chip Heath, & Jerry M. Suls, "Flawed Self-Assessments: Implications for Health, Education, and the Workplace," Psychological Science in the Public Interest 5 (2007): 69-106.
Happy holidays!
P.S. David Dunning won the 2000 Ig Nobel Psychology Prize for his report, co-authored with Justin Kruger, entitled "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments." [Published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 77 (1999): 1121-34.]
Comment
Permalink
E-mail
Who is Miss Conduct?
Robin Abrahams writes the weekly "Miss Conduct" column for The Boston Globe Magazine. Robin, who has a PhD in psychology from Boston University, has worked as a theater publicist, organizational-change communications manager, editor, stand-up comedian, and professor of psychology and English. She lives in Cambridge with her husband, Marc Abrahams, founder of the Ig Nobel Prizes, which are given annually for achievements that first make people laugh and then make them think.
