Cargando…

Less-Intelligent and Unaware? Accuracy and Dunning–Kruger Effects for Self-Estimates of Different Aspects of Intelligence

People’s perceptions of their intelligence correlate only moderately with objective intelligence measures. On average, people overestimate themselves. According to the popular Dunning–Kruger effect, this is particularly true for low performers: across many domains, those in the lowest quartile overe...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hofer, Gabriela, Mraulak, Valentina, Grinschgl, Sandra, Neubauer, Aljoscha C.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8883889/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35225925
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence10010010
_version_ 1784660035301801984
author Hofer, Gabriela
Mraulak, Valentina
Grinschgl, Sandra
Neubauer, Aljoscha C.
author_facet Hofer, Gabriela
Mraulak, Valentina
Grinschgl, Sandra
Neubauer, Aljoscha C.
author_sort Hofer, Gabriela
collection PubMed
description People’s perceptions of their intelligence correlate only moderately with objective intelligence measures. On average, people overestimate themselves. According to the popular Dunning–Kruger effect, this is particularly true for low performers: across many domains, those in the lowest quartile overestimate their abilities the most. However, recent work using improved statistical approaches found little support for a Dunning–Kruger effect in general intelligence. We investigated accuracy and Dunning–Kruger effects for self-estimates of general, verbal, numerical, and spatial intelligence—domains that differed in how well they can be judged in the past. A total of 281 participants completed self-estimates and intelligence measures online. Self-estimates showed mostly moderate correlational accuracy that was slightly higher for numerical intelligence and lower for verbal intelligence. Across domains, participants rated their intelligence as above average. However, as their intelligence was indeed high, this was not an overestimation. While standard analyses indicated Dunning–Kruger effects in general, verbal, and spatial intelligence, improved statistical methods only yielded some support for one in verbal intelligence: people with lower verbal intelligence tended to have less self-knowledge about it. The generalizability of these findings is limited to young, highly educated populations. Nevertheless, our results contribute to a growing literature questioning the generality of the Dunning–Kruger effect.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8883889
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-88838892022-03-01 Less-Intelligent and Unaware? Accuracy and Dunning–Kruger Effects for Self-Estimates of Different Aspects of Intelligence Hofer, Gabriela Mraulak, Valentina Grinschgl, Sandra Neubauer, Aljoscha C. J Intell Article People’s perceptions of their intelligence correlate only moderately with objective intelligence measures. On average, people overestimate themselves. According to the popular Dunning–Kruger effect, this is particularly true for low performers: across many domains, those in the lowest quartile overestimate their abilities the most. However, recent work using improved statistical approaches found little support for a Dunning–Kruger effect in general intelligence. We investigated accuracy and Dunning–Kruger effects for self-estimates of general, verbal, numerical, and spatial intelligence—domains that differed in how well they can be judged in the past. A total of 281 participants completed self-estimates and intelligence measures online. Self-estimates showed mostly moderate correlational accuracy that was slightly higher for numerical intelligence and lower for verbal intelligence. Across domains, participants rated their intelligence as above average. However, as their intelligence was indeed high, this was not an overestimation. While standard analyses indicated Dunning–Kruger effects in general, verbal, and spatial intelligence, improved statistical methods only yielded some support for one in verbal intelligence: people with lower verbal intelligence tended to have less self-knowledge about it. The generalizability of these findings is limited to young, highly educated populations. Nevertheless, our results contribute to a growing literature questioning the generality of the Dunning–Kruger effect. MDPI 2022-02-05 /pmc/articles/PMC8883889/ /pubmed/35225925 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence10010010 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Hofer, Gabriela
Mraulak, Valentina
Grinschgl, Sandra
Neubauer, Aljoscha C.
Less-Intelligent and Unaware? Accuracy and Dunning–Kruger Effects for Self-Estimates of Different Aspects of Intelligence
title Less-Intelligent and Unaware? Accuracy and Dunning–Kruger Effects for Self-Estimates of Different Aspects of Intelligence
title_full Less-Intelligent and Unaware? Accuracy and Dunning–Kruger Effects for Self-Estimates of Different Aspects of Intelligence
title_fullStr Less-Intelligent and Unaware? Accuracy and Dunning–Kruger Effects for Self-Estimates of Different Aspects of Intelligence
title_full_unstemmed Less-Intelligent and Unaware? Accuracy and Dunning–Kruger Effects for Self-Estimates of Different Aspects of Intelligence
title_short Less-Intelligent and Unaware? Accuracy and Dunning–Kruger Effects for Self-Estimates of Different Aspects of Intelligence
title_sort less-intelligent and unaware? accuracy and dunning–kruger effects for self-estimates of different aspects of intelligence
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8883889/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35225925
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence10010010
work_keys_str_mv AT hofergabriela lessintelligentandunawareaccuracyanddunningkrugereffectsforselfestimatesofdifferentaspectsofintelligence
AT mraulakvalentina lessintelligentandunawareaccuracyanddunningkrugereffectsforselfestimatesofdifferentaspectsofintelligence
AT grinschglsandra lessintelligentandunawareaccuracyanddunningkrugereffectsforselfestimatesofdifferentaspectsofintelligence
AT neubaueraljoschac lessintelligentandunawareaccuracyanddunningkrugereffectsforselfestimatesofdifferentaspectsofintelligence