It's called the Dunning–Kruger effect.
We Are All Confident Idiots (2014)
61–70 of 135 posts
Re: We Are All Confident Idiots (2014)
#62How do you work with an individual who _insists_ they understand how it all works? Even when faced with hard evidence that contradicts their assessments, I'm still told I don't understand or I misinterpreted their words - basically gas-lighting me. Arguing leaves me unmotivated and frustrated. Giving in is the wrong path. Going to others doesn't seem to move the needle. Help.
Have you tried sarcasm? Works a treat. Little by little, undermine them by agreeing but disagreeing with subtle sarcasm until they doubt themselves.
Works, but don't become an asshole yourself.
Re: We Are All Confident Idiots (2014)
#63Hey, I built a 40 year career on 'fake it until you have to leave or learn how to make it' -So don't knock this. And, all you young whippersnappers remember that its only old fools like me messing up in the code which gives you meaningful jobs fixing bugs in the future.
another systemic self fulfilling limit ?
Re: We Are All Confident Idiots (2014)
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is such a dreadful idea to spread. Many of humanity's most valuable individuals have died alone, become pariahs or were persecuted by their peer groups. This obviously also happens to entire groups of people, not just individuals. This happens all the time, even in ordinary places where it is clearly wrong. I can even remember back in primary school a couple instances of even teachers bullying unfortunate studen…
Maybe you misunderstood the saying? An a-hole is the bully, not the victim. The valuable people you talk about are the victims of a-holes.
Yes, and they kept meeting assholes throughout the day, so IMO that adage is a lot of bull. :-)
Re: We Are All Confident Idiots (2014)
#65Hey, I built a 40 year career on 'fake it until you have to leave or learn how to make it' -So don't knock this. And, all you young whippersnappers remember that its only old fools like me messing up in the code which gives you meaningful jobs fixing bugs in the future.
I have grown in confidence over 20 years not by building capabilities but realizing that everyone else is guessing just as much as I am. And I'm at least an above-average guesser in my field of "expertise".
I'm going insane over this because recruiters will act as if only noblest prizes are allowed in their companies.
I sincerely do not know if I should: ingest all Knuth, Sedgewick, Cormen, Ulam, Lorenz, VonNeumann, Fermi and Gauss entire scribings[0]
or if I should just lie, make bold claims and ask for 1.5x the usual salary.
[0] I have them on disk.. you can guess what path I picked for now.
Re: We Are All Confident Idiots (2014)
#66Interestingly those who tend to be more realistic in their self expectations are more prone to depression. False confidence may be the route to happiness or at least optimism.
There's a federated structure to it too. Some groups will have false confidence in their habits as long as they can make a living. Cue php group having their own rituals, same for python, or java. Each group will feel happy because they share the same false confidence over a similar point of view.
Re: We Are All Confident Idiots (2014)
#67It's called the Dunning–Kruger effect.
Are you sure?
Re: We Are All Confident Idiots (2014)
#68How do you work with an individual who _insists_ they understand how it all works? Even when faced with hard evidence that contradicts their assessments, I'm still told I don't understand or I misinterpreted their words - basically gas-lighting me. Arguing leaves me unmotivated and frustrated. Giving in is the wrong path. Going to others doesn't seem to move the needle. Help.
You basically go deeper.. the standard psychological way to do this is to listen and genuinely be interested and ask them to tell you more. Be curious about why they think what they do. Don't argue but seek an understanding of where they are coming from. Usually this forces them to think through their arguments. In the end they will hopefully see the incompetence of their position and probably adapt. This is not easy…
A french dude has a youtube channel around the skepticism theme. He went to some naturist pseudo science thing and met a woman who was arguing about EMW toxicity backed by a ton of references. He took a long time to ask deeper and deeper, she had a lot to say, but after an hour he finally pinned her to a void at the root of her theory.
It's a long and hard thing to do IMO, gotta have serious patience.
Re: We Are All Confident Idiots (2014)
#69Interestingly those who tend to be more realistic in their self expectations are more prone to depression. False confidence may be the route to happiness or at least optimism.
This is a widespread meme on the Internet, but it's far from an established fact.
Re: We Are All Confident Idiots (2014)
#70 I would say the root of this behaviour is our clinging for the acceptance of others. It is a pathos fueling our neurosis and it is also the foundation of society.