Skip to main content

Why incompetent people think they're amazing - David Dunning

  • 7,805,537 Views
  • 26,261 Questions Answered
  • TEDEd Animation

Let’s Begin…

How good are you with money? What about reading people’s emotions? How healthy are you, compared to other people you know? Knowing how our skills stack up against others is useful in many ways. But psychological research suggests that we’re not very good at evaluating ourselves accurately. In fact, we frequently overestimate our own abilities. David Dunning describes the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Create and share a new lesson based on this one.

About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator David Dunning
  • Director Wednesday Studio
  • Script Editor Eleanor Nelsen
  • Animator Russell Etheridge, Allen Laseter, Ezequiel Matteo, Andrew Embury, Wednesday Studio
  • 3D Animator Ian Pinder
  • Producer Wednesday Studio
  • Editor Wednesday Studio
  • Compositor Wednesday Studio
  • Designer Wednesday Studio
  • Art Director Wednesday Studio
  • Storyboard Artist Wednesday Studio
  • Illustrator Wednesday Studio
  • Senior Animator Wednesday Studio
  • Character Designer Wednesday Studio
  • Layout Artist Wednesday Studio
  • Composer Tom Drew
  • Sound Designer Tom Drew
  • Associate Producer Jessica Ruby
  • Content Producer Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal
  • Narrator Addison Anderson
  • See more
Additional Resources for you to Explore
The Dunning-Kruger effect, at its core, suggests that people fail to recognize their intellectual and social shortcomings because they simply lack the expertise necessary to see them. As such, the effect reflects a double-curse: People’s deficits cause them to make many mistakes, and then those exact same deficits prevent them from seeing their decisions as mistakes. As a consequence, the pervasive tendency for people to overrate themselves and their talents is not necessarily due to their ego, but rather to intellectual deficits that they cannot see. We all share this problem, in that we all have pockets of incompetence that remain invisible to us.

Over the years, the Dunning-Kruger effect and its implications have received a fair amount of attention in the popular press, even including a Doonesbury cartoon.

A long-form essay about the effect by one of psychologists who described originally it can be found at Pacific Standard, focusing particularly on the role of false beliefs in giving people undeserved confidence. Award-winning film documentarian Errol Morris published a 5-part essay musing about the effect and its impact on American history in his blog at the New York Times.

Elsewhere are several radio broadcasts and podcasts that deep into the effect in detail. A short treatment of the effect can be found on a 2016 episode of This American Life.

Longer discussions about the effect can be found at You Are Not So Smart. A wide-ranging radio program linking it to other psychological phenomena can be found at Ideas.

Recently, the phenomenon has been linked to the rejection of experts (BBC’s The Human Zoo) and to the field of agnotology, which explores how financial and political interests spread ignorance and doubt in the public. The classic historical example is how tobacco companies obscured the fact that their product caused lung cancer. To tie the effect to the business world, one can visit this lively video podcast A Sales Guy.

The original scholarly article by Kruger & Dunning that introduced the effect can be found here. A longer article reviewing the science about flawed self-judgment in general, covering implications for health, education, and the workplace, can be located here. A longer scientific review article focusing solely on research about the effect is here.

A book covering the psychological science on faulty self-judgment in general is Self-insight: Roadblocks and detours on the path to knowing thyself.

Over the years, several authors have written blog essays about the effect and their particular area of interest (e.g., medicine, politics, education, scuba diving, aviation, creative writing, the list goes on). One never knows what one might hit by googling “Dunning Kruger” and one’s favorite activity.
TED-Ed
Lesson Creator
New York, NY
The Dunning-Kruger effect suggests it is difficult, if not impossible, for people to identify their intellectual and social deficits. If this is the case, what can a person do to find out about how their shortcomings? In addition, how do we deal with a person suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect?
11/03/2017
Avatar for ronald fletcher
ronald fletcher • Beaumont, TX, United States • COMPLETED LESSON

What a person can do to discover their shortcomings is to read and have conversations about things they think they are good and bad at.

How to deal with someone who has D-K, well slight hints will not work nor will strong ones. One must operate at a higher level and influence them into the right directions, this is what I must do at work.

11/11/2017
Avatar for Aananthi Rajasekaran
Aananthi Rajasekaran • COMPLETED LESSON

I would say through experience and feedback from friends, family and co-workers, we must take things one step at a time with complete focus. In addition, we must record the mistakes we make and figure out solutions for what can be done to do better. For example, when learning how to play the piano, you learn through an expert first and then you apply the information on your own. While applying the information, you learn what works and what does not work for you. You show complete focus on how you learn the particular skill while recording what went wrong and what went right. Overall, it is about understanding your abilities and how to take your abilities to the next level.

11/11/2017
Avatar for Anh Vu
Anh Vu • LESSON IN PROGRESS

Easy. Make friends out of your comfort circle. Friends who are skilled in areas you know you have no competency in. Have these so-called friends talk your ear off about how they accomplish their tasks. Let them brag about it. Praise them for their work. Then try the new learn skill. Learn and be an imposter to their craft.

11/12/2017
Avatar for Dr Pam Halton
Dr Pam Halton • COMPLETED LESSON

We have found that several things can help:
● a course on Emotional Intelligence
● a course on specific Mindfulness training like MBSR and MBCT Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (same learning material despite possibly having different goals)
● courses to enhance body awareness or pay more attention to your senses including some hunter-tracker or natural skills tracker type courses
● enhancing your own awareness by regular practice of tuning deeply into the senses like peripheral vision, smell, taste, and sound, even smelling essential oils
● sometimes courses or lectures in consciousness or conscious awareness such as Adyashanti, Eckert Tolle, Byron Katie's The Work, Teal Swan
● sometimes even self study like reading books although this is generally more effective if repeated such as a book group that reads the book slowly and repeats over time to integrate the info

11/12/2017
Avatar for Dr Pam Halton
Dr Pam Halton • COMPLETED LESSON

To "deal" with the person, assuming they want it to change,
● You could suggest they go collect feedback from x number of people at work, peers, family, etc. and report back about it.
● You could gently ask things using the studies in this lesson. "Did you know that most people generally overrate their own competence? It is common enough to even have been named "the Dunning-Kruger effect". You could point them to resources about it.
● You could ask them, "Are you more attached to believing that you are 100% correct about certain topics or are you open to more information to explore ways you might not be 100% correct?"
● You could point them to the TED talk by Julia Galef "Why You Think You're Right, Even If You're Wrong and then ask them questions about it afterward. If the person is oblivious enough to think they are the scout mindset when they're generally not, you could ask them if they notice that the historical people who were wrong also were quite certain they were right.

11/12/2017
Avatar for Dr Pam Halton
Dr Pam Halton • COMPLETED LESSON
11/12/2017
Avatar for David Chester
David Chester • Petach Tikva, Israel • LESSON IN PROGRESS

Robbie Burns in his poem "To a Louse" explained it first.

"Oh that the gods some gift could gie us;
To see ourselves as other's see us!"

11/13/2017
Avatar for sydney vilain
sydney vilain • LESSON IN PROGRESS

What a person can do to discover their short comings is maybe watch an activity that they may think is interesting.

11/14/2017
Avatar for Hayden Dodd
Hayden Dodd • COMPLETED LESSON

Really I personally think every one is effected by this. Even i am but it,s not that hard to stop doing it. You could just listen to others and never think of yourself as being better than others. But if you do think that think it in your head.

11/14/2017
Avatar for Andrea Guevara Mendoza
Andrea Guevara Mendoza • LESSON IN PROGRESS

There are many questionnaires that we present in schools to be able to know what we are good at and be able to develop it in our lives but we can also know what we are bad at and so we can practice to improve it or better leave it aside.

11/16/2017
Avatar for Esmeralda Reyes
Esmeralda Reyes • LESSON IN PROGRESS

Easy. Make friends out of your comfort circle. Friends who are skilled in areas you know you have no competency in. Have these so-called friends talk your ear off about how they accomplish their tasks. Let them brag about it. Praise them for their work. Then try the new learn skill. Learn and be an imposter to their craft.

11/21/2017
Avatar for Aaron Nester
Aaron Nester • COMPLETED LESSON

It's the old adage, " You don't know what you don't know". It can be both disheartening and eye opening when we discover how incompetent we really are at something. Look no further than American Idol to discover the effect of Dunning Kruger. The good news is that if we pay attention and understand that we are always learning we can make great strides in recognizing our deficiencies.

11/26/2017
Avatar for Diana Karen Martinez Cruz
Diana Karen Martinez Cruz • LESSON IN PROGRESS

A person must and can discover himself, know what his virtues are and also accept that like everyone else, they have flaws, because they are people and they have to work on it to improve it, however sometimes it is necessary to say them what is wrong, and the best way to treat this type of people is to be tolerant

11/29/2017
Avatar for ronald fletcher
ronald fletcher • Beaumont, TX, United States • COMPLETED LESSON

I am not sure they can learn from this until they have self realization...

11/29/2017 • 
IN RESPONSE TO sydney vilain Show the comment
Avatar for JUAN CALDERON
JUAN CALDERON • LESSON IN PROGRESS

I would say through experience and feedback from friends, family and co-workers, we must take things one step at a time with complete focus. In addition, we must record the mistakes we make and figure out solutions for what can be done to do better. For example, when learning how to play the piano, you learn through an expert first and then you apply the information on your own. While applying the information, you learn what works and what does not work for you. You show complete focus on how you learn the particular skill while recording what went wrong and what went right. Overall, it is about understanding your abilities and how to take your abilities to the next level.

12/03/2017
Avatar for angeles navarrete
angeles navarrete • LESSON IN PROGRESS

What the video says seemed true to me, since people who are good at something usually say that they do not do it well, and on the contrary, people who think they are superior, as mentioned in the video, have great sorrows.
at the end of a saying and related to the following: to foolish words, ears of a butcher.
I think that we do not have to be banished, in the sense of thinking that we are superior, that we make things better or that we know more than others.

12/06/2017
Avatar for Héctor Recillas
Héctor Recillas • LESSON IN PROGRESS

There are many questionnaires that we present in schools to be able to know what we are good at and be able to develop it in our lives but we can also know what we are bad at and so we can practice to improve it or better leave it aside.

12/07/2017
Avatar for Ingrid Carbajal
Ingrid Carbajal • COMPLETED LESSON

I believe that he will enter the area of ​​psychology to be able to recognize his deficiencies, to be treated his strong points and to be able to receive an Emotional Intelligence course.

12/08/2017
Avatar for Laly Martinez
Laly Martinez • LESSON IN PROGRESS

individuals with little skill or knowledge are considered smarter that their peers, measuring their skill incorrectly and of course positioning themselves above reality. according to psychologists this bias is a metacognitive disability that makes them misinterpret their own capacity and that of others, not only do they believe they are better, they also believe that the rest is inferior

12/09/2017
Avatar for Angel Enriquez
Angel Enriquez • COMPLETED LESSON

I agree that it is difficult to reflect on the people who suffer this, but in order to cope with it they have to learn from their mistakes and accept the criticisms of others

12/09/2017
Avatar for karla soto flores
karla soto flores • COMPLETED LESSON

I think it's important to learn to know each other to identify all this. In addition, there are some theories that can help us in some way to know the aforementioned

12/11/2017
Avatar for Hanna Geaoa
Hanna Geaoa • LESSON IN PROGRESS

I think we all are way too dumb and should most certainly learn a lot more in order to make the world a better place. Personally, I do not believe, we can actually figure out our shortcomings in any way, so we should just try to make sure we do not have any.

In my opinion the way to deal with a person suffering from this, is to help that person by taching them what they cannot due.

01/06/2018
Avatar for Ishan Arya
Ishan Arya • Bengaluru, India • LESSON IN PROGRESS

we should tell them they are nothing in the world on a global level and teach them their foolishness at what they so call their skills. also we mus work harder in our sphere rather than theirs, instead of competing with them rather ignore them in social areas as its quite awful to talk to such idiots. well i'm am a genius and suffer from savant syndrome, bet you dont know about that disease.

01/19/2018
Avatar for Priscilla Mendes
Priscilla Mendes • COMPLETED LESSON

I think a good of dealing with this effect is getting to understand about cognitive biases and mental models, so one can be more aware of mind traps. Additionally, getting different points of view in the intended area of expertise, desirably with the feedback of masters.

01/31/2018
Avatar for thomas h
thomas h • COMPLETED LESSON

We can continue to learn and ask for advice. Also we can help them by offering to tutor

02/06/2018
Avatar for Seongeun Kim
Seongeun Kim • COMPLETED LESSON

In order to find out our shortcomings, we have to find out what actual experts can do and know. That way, we will have a reliable criteria.
If we meet people suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect, we have to be careful not to hurt their feelings while allowing them to recognize their shortcomings. To do that, we can gently recommend related TED talks, saying that most people suffer from this effect, and making a remark about how interesting this effect is, so that they won't think we are accusing them of suffering from the effect, and therefore leading them to self-realization.

03/30/2018
Avatar for daniel notari
daniel notari • COMPLETED LESSON

good point

05/28/2018 • 
IN RESPONSE TO Aananthi Rajasekaran Show the comment
Avatar for daniel notari
daniel notari • COMPLETED LESSON

I usually do this at work. I am trying to work of people from different departament to develop interdisciplinare projects.

05/28/2018 • 
IN RESPONSE TO Anh Vu Show the comment
Avatar for daniel notari
daniel notari • COMPLETED LESSON

I think to ask for feedback is really difficulty.

05/28/2018
Avatar for joyce Mulligan
joyce Mulligan • COMPLETED LESSON

Since most of us have the Dunning-Kruger effect to some degree there are methods to learn to identify it and help to make it easier for you to identify in yourself. One way is to listen to people when they give you feedback and apply fixes if you can. Another method would be to solicit feed back from others and aks them where they feel your shortcomings are so you can work on improving them. Becoming a true, noted expert in a particular field also helps dispel the fact that you don't know something. There are many psychological tests if you are willing to take them, to help you identify areas where you can improve.
At some point, we've all probably dealt with someone who has the DK effect. We just didn't know it had a name and called them "know it all's". Most of the time it is just an annoyance we simply ignore them. It's never easy to continue to let someone know how ignorant they are and it typically will not help the situation. If they will accept feedback you can try that.

01/29/2019
Avatar for Carson Kitchen
Carson Kitchen • COMPLETED LESSON

They can listen to others for constructive critisicm and always be trying to learn. If a person can't recognize their own mistakes, it is important to not just tell them they made a mistake but explain to them their mistake so they can realize their shortcoming.

10/16/2019
Avatar for Bernarda Largo Granada
Bernarda Largo Granada • COMPLETED LESSON

I say that a person can do to discover their shortcomings is to read and have conversations about things they think they are good and bad at. in addition Make friends out of your comfort circle. Friends who are skilled in areas you know you have no competency in.

11/05/2019
Avatar for vanesa jaramillo
vanesa jaramillo • LESSON IN PROGRESS

i think that the person should meet himself and found good things and bad things about he

11/05/2019
Avatar for Juan León Murcia
Juan León Murcia • COMPLETED LESSON

With professional help, doing an exercise of personal discovery, identifying their qualities and defects, the support that another person can provide is vital demonstrating the human capacities to cooperate with each other.

11/05/2019
Avatar for Juan Manuel Castiblanco
Juan Manuel Castiblanco • LESSON IN PROGRESS

There are many questionnaires that we present in schools to be able to know what we are good at and be able to develop it in our lives but we can also know what we are bad at and so we can practice to improve it or better leave it aside.

11/05/2019
Avatar for Ana Maria Alvarado Alvarez
Ana Maria Alvarado Alvarez • COMPLETED LESSON

I believe that know yourself is a good way because is very important have a knowledge about the things that you are good or bad in order to become to be the best version of you. For the people that have Dunning-Kruger effect a good *********** could be go to the specialist for example psychology in order to recognize their defects.

11/06/2019
Avatar for s g
s g • LESSON IN PROGRESS

People who are trying to figure out their shortcomings: talk to someone or ask for feedback, and even if you still think you are good at the things you might not be, just continue to think that it's not just being "good" at something, but learning to be BETTER at the things you think you are already good at. We can also deal with a person suffering from the effect by talking with them. Do not point out their faults, but ask questions, with might potentially lead to get them to realise that they might not be as good as they think they are, for example. It can be hard to hear feedback, but try to allow the person suffering from the effect to consider it even if it is hard to hear.

03/27/2020
Avatar for s g
s g • LESSON IN PROGRESS

What can a person do to find out about how their shortcomings is to ask their parents, teachers, and siblings for advice and they will know doubt help you get better at what you are doing. We deal with a person suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect by keep teaching them about life and to call out their mistakes and fix it so they have the right information about what their doing.

03/27/2020
Avatar for Humberto Macias
Humberto Macias • COMPLETED LESSON

The Dunning-Kruger effect suggests it is difficult to self-realize the real (in)competence of poor skilled person has, in one or several subjects. Every one of us is subject to this effect, because is logically imposiblle to be an expert in every skill or science in our life. So. the better attitude is to suspend aour self juedgement, ask for feedback to assertive people, and keep learning in the matters we consider vital.

06/09/2020
Avatar for Metta Lee
Metta Lee • COMPLETED LESSON

A feedback loop is important to identify their intellectual and social deficits. If one fails at a math test, one immediately knows that they are not good enough, and where they stand. However, for driving, it is more subjective, and hence, harder to feedback. Or perhaps, we get mediocrity enablers such as friends and family, whom praise our cooking or singing ability to the sky. Google or go to quoura and reddit's AMA and ask: What makes a good (blank)? What do good (blank) do? Get an expert's opinion. If you sing, post on youtube or a facebook community and get feedback. Lastly, just practice and keep learning.

06/11/2020
Avatar for Osama Al-Bahrani
Osama Al-Bahrani • LESSON IN PROGRESS

When you want to place yourself among people, think about the following question: on what basis?

11/18/2020
Avatar for Jooha Kim
Jooha Kim • COMPLETED LESSON

To find out their shortcoming, they can ask about their ability to people near them. We can study more and do more better than that person so he/she can realize it.

12/09/2020
Avatar for Ashar Ahmed
Ashar Ahmed • COMPLETED LESSON

Firstly, the person needs to bring to their attention, the fact, that they are in no way perfect and can have flaws like any other person on this planet. This change depends entirely on the type of person we are talking about. If someone is resistant to change and continues to believe themselves perfect after numerous people and experiences telling them otherwise, they are beyond help. If one successfully identifies their flaws, they would have a much easier time trying to get over them. Taking opinions from others and self observation can help one find their shortcomings.

12/18/2020
Avatar for Dushant Vaswani
Dushant Vaswani • COMPLETED LESSON

To find out about how our shortcomings, is that we don't like an activity or we don't feel any positive emotions about it while we are doing that work but we don’t about this. That is why people who really have the talent will say they aren't good enough. They say so because they have that idea of how it should be and consider other people's work as something better than theirs. They consider themselves being "on the process" of perfecting it. Once Charles Bukowski said; "The problem in this world is that intelligent people are full of doubt while incompetents are full of confidence" We often feel more confident about a skill or topic than we really should. But at the same time, we’re often unaware of our overconfidence. We have to make The person suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect realize that what is he doing we should tell them they are nothing in the world on a global level and teach them their foolishness at what they so call their skills and help them.

12/18/2020
Avatar for Jason Jones
Jason Jones • LESSON IN PROGRESS

What a person can do to discover their short comings is maybe watch an activity that they may think is interesting.

02/01/2021

Customize This Lesson

Create and share a new lesson based on this one.

About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator David Dunning
  • Director Wednesday Studio
  • Script Editor Eleanor Nelsen
  • Animator Russell Etheridge, Allen Laseter, Ezequiel Matteo, Andrew Embury, Wednesday Studio
  • 3D Animator Ian Pinder
  • Producer Wednesday Studio
  • Editor Wednesday Studio
  • Compositor Wednesday Studio
  • Designer Wednesday Studio
  • Art Director Wednesday Studio
  • Storyboard Artist Wednesday Studio
  • Illustrator Wednesday Studio
  • Senior Animator Wednesday Studio
  • Character Designer Wednesday Studio
  • Layout Artist Wednesday Studio
  • Composer Tom Drew
  • Sound Designer Tom Drew
  • Associate Producer Jessica Ruby
  • Content Producer Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal
  • Narrator Addison Anderson
  • See more