What we think we know: The Dunning-Kruger Effect

A nice little reminder to trust your deeply ingrained knowledge a little more, and your freshly gained knowledge a little less. Found by one of my students, Vaibhav Shetty.

This can relate to almost anything, but off the top of my head, I think of three areas in particular: Driving, Self-defense, and Negotiation.

Unfortunately, an inordinate amount of people think they are good at all three, but are probably statistically mediocre. 64% of Americans rate themselves as above average drivers. At least 15% of those people are wrong. I'd imagine those numbers are similarly biased, especially amongst men, for the other two.

This ports over to the Jiu Jitsu belts pretty neatly: A white belt with a couple stripes speaks and feels with broad strokes, while a black belt discusses their art with much nuance and care.

It's worth asking yourself: How do you feel about what you think you know?