"When Knowledge Knows No Bounds"

[WillBrink]

A study on the delusional know-it-all types out there we all have to deal with. Some LOL worthy stuff in the abstract. Reads like an Onion story. :cool:

When Knowledge Knows No Bounds:Self-Perceived Expertise Predicts Claims of Impossible Knowledge

Stav Atir1
Emily Rosenzweig2
David Dunning1

1Department of Psychology, Cornell University
2Department of Marketing, Tulane University

Stav Atir, Department of Psychology, Cornell University, 211 Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-7601 E-mail: ssa62@cornell.edu


Abstract

People overestimate their knowledge, at times claiming knowledge of concepts, events, and people that do not exist and cannot be known, a phenomenon called overclaiming. What underlies assertions of such impossible knowledge? We found that people overclaim to the extent that they perceive their personal expertise favorably. Studies 1a and 1b showed that self-perceived financial knowledge positively predicts claiming knowledge of nonexistent financial concepts, independent of actual knowledge. Study 2 demonstrated that self-perceived knowledge within specific domains (e.g., biology) is associated specifically with overclaiming within those domains. In Study 3, warning participants that some of the concepts they saw were fictitious did not reduce the relationship between self-perceived knowledge and overclaiming, which suggests that this relationship is not driven by impression management. In Study 4, boosting self-perceived expertise in geography prompted assertions of familiarity with nonexistent places, which supports a causal role for self-perceived expertise in claiming impossible knowledge.

http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/07/14/0956797615588195.abstract

[soulezoo]

The question that begs:

If you insult my intelligence/knowledge in an area of impossible knowledge, or knowledge that does not exist, am I actually insulted? lol

[Voodoo_Man]

Sort of a take on the Dunning-Kruger effect...

[Ick]

I don't believe it and you cannot convince me otherwise.

[Doc Safari]

I didn't read this thread because I already know everything.





LOL.

I think a lot of this phenomenon relates to poor memory as well: we think we remember the past better than we really do. Our minds tend to gloss over the "bad things" and let us remember the good. If you were to go back in time to your favorite party, for example, you probably have forgotten that so-and-so was obnoxious, that chick you had the hots for gave you a dirty look. Thirty years after the fact you just remember the good time you had with your buddies.

[T2C]

The older I get, the more often I find people who are better informed. The most vocal of the better informed may fall into the category of the people in the article.

Everything is true on the internet of course, so I use it as a back up information source.

[Averageman]

I think some people see or otherwise experience something that is unexplainable based upon their knowledge and because it confuses the crap out of them they try and come up with some theory to explain it.
It may sound bat ship crazy to the rest of us and if confronted with that, the response that works is "You had to be there buddy."
Which, if the phenomenon is based upon a near miss car or motorcycle accident, something that happened after midnight while fishing, while being shot at, or something that might involve quantities of moonshine, well that whole thing can make a lot of sense at the time.

[Voodoo_Man]

The older I get, the more often I find people who are better informed. The most vocal of the better informed may fall into the category of the people in the article.

Everything is true on the internet of course, so I use it as a back up information source.

That's the funny thing though about this type of thing.

The internet allows people to view videos about anything and everything, and the moment you ask someone about something, if they have seen a video of it or read something about it online then they are, all of a sudden, self-described experts or at least "familiar" with the topic. Until you actually have to sit them down to do the work, converse about the topic or otherwise engage in the content they are lost.

[kwelz]

This is why concepts like Peer review in Science and Checks and balances in government are so important.

[Averageman]

http://www.jrtc-polk.army.mil/SJA/Documents/15-6_IO_%20Guide.pdf
Congratulations! You're a 15-6 Investigating Officer!
This guide is intended to assist investigating officers
(IOs) appointed under the provisions of Army Regulation
(AR) 15-6, in conducting timely, thorough, and legally
sufficient investigations. Although it is designed
specifically for informal investigations, some provisions are
applicable to formal investigations as well.
This stuff should be hosted by Groucho Marx and be called "You Bet Your Rank".
Trust me, at this point everyone is an expert.

[WillBrink]

This is why concepts like Peer review in Science and Checks and balances in government are so important.

Indeed, and those are far from immune to such problems (having done some peer review for sci/med journals....), still the best route for vetting out BS from well supported info we have to date. Checks and balances in government means everything and anything, no matter how small or trivial, takes forever, but the alternative is (potentially) far worse. Or as the man said:

“It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.” - Winston Churchill