57: The Epic Challenge of Knowing Thyself (with David Dunning)

On Wisdom

Can we ever really know ourselves, or are we destined to always make overly optimistic self-assessments? David Dunning joins Igor and Charles to discuss the Dunning-Kruger effect, the importance of asking the right questions, why arriving at an accurate view of ourselves is so challenging, and the implications for teaching, medicine, and even scientific research. Igor explores the possible reemergence of group assessments in education as a result of advances in AI, David shares why conversations with smart people often end up as competitions to ask the most questions, and Charles reflects on the wisdom-enhancing experience of jury service. Welcome to Episode 57.

Special Guest: David Dunning.

Links:

• Unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments - J Kruger, D Dunning (1999)
• The association between objective and subjective financial literacy: Failure to observe the Dunning-Kruger effect - Gilles E. Gignac (2022)
• Flawed Self-Assessment: Implications for Health, Education, and the Workplace - David Dunning Chip Heath Jerry M. Suls (2004)
• Feeling "Holier Than Thou": Are Self-Serving Assessments Produced by Errors in Self- or Social Prediction? - Nicholas Epley, David Dunning (2000)
• Why People Fail to Recognize Their Own Incompetence - David Dunning1. Kerri Johnson Joyce Ehrlinger Justin Kruger (2003)
• The Dunning–Kruger Effect: On Being Ignorant of One's Own Ignorance | Book Chapter - David Dunning (2011)