Why incompetent people think they're amazing (TED-Ed)
38 replies, posted
[video=youtube;pOLmD_WVY-E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOLmD_WVY-E[/video]
[quote=description]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. [/QUOTE]
Honestly, I've been living in constant fear of the fact of having this effect.
I can't tell if I'm honestly good at something or bad, and it's made me become afraid of trying out new things. I'm too afraid of finding out I'm bad at something, so I instead stick to the things I'd consider myself good at, but to the extent of being pretty much average.
Everything I do, I find myself asking "Is this really how it is? Am I underestimating how good I am? Or maybe I'm bad but I can't realize it." It has seeped deep into everything I do, and it has made me deeply afraid of ever trying to master something.
I wish I was able to overestimate my abilities. Sure would beat having no faith in myself.
[QUOTE=GentlemanLexi;52875033]Honestly, I've been living in constant fear of the fact of having this effect.
I can't tell if I'm honestly good at something or bad, and it's made me become afraid of trying out new things. I'm too afraid of finding out I'm bad at something, so I instead stick to the things I'd consider myself good at, but to the extent of being pretty much average.
Everything I do, I find myself asking "Is this really how it is? Am I underestimating how good I am? Or maybe I'm bad but I can't realize it." It has seeped deep into everything I do, and it has made me deeply afraid of ever trying to master something.[/QUOTE]
Why even think about it? Nobody is going to be consistently good at any skill they're just starting out with. Just try new things for the sake of living life and enjoy the activity for what it is, and if you like it, keep doing it. If you want to get better; find people who are better than you, watch and learn from them, and then dedicate a bit of time every week to [b][i]mindful[/i][/b] practice and improvement. You will get better with time, it won't happen overnight. Remember to HAVE FUN :D
The thing that bothers me is realizing how long or how much work it's going to take to get better, and that's when you have to decide on what you want to dedicate your time and energy getting good at (in my experience). Okay I need to watch the video now.
What feels worse right now is that I'm somewhat past insecurities of feeling too incompetent to try for something big or share my work, but I feel like I don't get enough feedback or won't get much apart from [img]https://facepunch.com/fp/ratings/tick.png[/img] or [img]https://facepunch.com/fp/ratings/cross.png[/img]
Which brings me back on thoughts if I might be doing wrong or missing something, or that I just don't explicitly ask for this feedback, which would feel like desperate attention grab.
Thank god I already know I'm retarded
I felt this effect quite hard when learning photography. I can't take a compliment on it because I know how bland my pictures look compared to some of the really good photo's I've seen. And as I go on I just get better at noticing a good photo, which means I see better and better photos all the time. I'm the one that's the variable in that situation not the photos themselves but that's not how it feels.
[QUOTE=GentlemanLexi;52875033]Honestly, I've been living in constant fear of the fact of having this effect.
I can't tell if I'm honestly good at something or bad, and it's made me become afraid of trying out new things. I'm too afraid of finding out I'm bad at something, so I instead stick to the things I'd consider myself good at, but to the extent of being pretty much average.
Everything I do, I find myself asking "Is this really how it is? Am I underestimating how good I am? Or maybe I'm bad but I can't realize it." It has seeped deep into everything I do, and it has made me deeply afraid of ever trying to master something.[/QUOTE]
If you look at Dunning et al's original study you'll see smarter people on average underestimate their abilities.
[QUOTE=BlackWolf97;52875735]I felt this effect quite hard when learning photography. I can't take a compliment on it because I know how bland my pictures look compared to some of the really good photo's I've seen. And as I go on I just get better at noticing a good photo, which means I see better and better photos all the time. I'm the one that's the variable in that situation not the photos themselves but that's not how it feels.[/QUOTE]
Whenever I get into this rut of thinking myself crummy compared to others in the same field, particularly in the vein of "look at all these people putting out all this awesome stuff, while I'm just sitting here stewing in my own shit and I have all these unfinished shit projects, unlike these awesome people," I just always remember this quote attributed to Steve Furtick:
"The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlights reel."
Basically, the reason why we feel like all of our unfinished or mediocre shit makes us incompetent in comparison to other people, is because all we ever see of those other peoples' work is their most acclaimed and popular work. We don't see all their sketches, doodles, unfinished works, and unpopular works.
When your metric for judging your own skill is through comparing yourself to the work of others, then your vision gets incredibly myopic and unhealthy.
I think that people by default tend to assume if they don't see themselves failing, then they must be succeeding.
I also get the impression that public schools drill into a lot of people with the opposite idea; That if they aren't succeeding, then they must be failing.
Everything doesn't have to be one or the other. You can fail because of success, improve because of failure, and sometimes you can just be average.
[QUOTE=GentlemanLexi;52875033]Honestly, I've been living in constant fear of the fact of having this effect.
I can't tell if I'm honestly good at something or bad, and it's made me become afraid of trying out new things. I'm too afraid of finding out I'm bad at something, so I instead stick to the things I'd consider myself good at, but to the extent of being pretty much average.
Everything I do, I find myself asking "Is this really how it is? Am I underestimating how good I am? Or maybe I'm bad but I can't realize it." It has seeped deep into everything I do, and it has made me deeply afraid of ever trying to master something.[/QUOTE]
I've had this feeling all my life and it really affected my work in the final year of my college. I'd say I was still useful but can't help think about how I could have been more useful if I wasn't afraid of taking up more work, because I was afraid I would suck and let everyone down. I keep thinking that after we graduate, my team-mates would prefer to never talk to me or see me again.
I always underestimate myself by default. I try my hardest but when people ask me how well I am at something I always reply with decent as my best rate. In certain aspects like some video games it catches people off guard because I'll say I'm decent at it and end up being relatively good, or I say I have a decent amount of patience when I've been told I have the most patience anyone has seen.
I usually just to keep my humility in my mind whenever I talk about myself in general.
if you're a creative type, just try to ignore stuff like this. not that it's wrong, but it's not [i]helpful[/i]. don't let stuff like this keep you from putting out stuff you've worked on or doing stuff you're passionate about. if it's worse than you thought it was, oh well, it's a learning experience. you'll never know if your work is for sure good or not until you put it out there
[QUOTE=ChicagoMobster;52875953]I always underestimate myself by default. I try my hardest but when people ask me how well I am at something I always reply with decent as my best rate. In certain aspects like some video games it catches people off guard because I'll say I'm decent at it and end up being relatively good, or I say I have a decent amount of patience when I've been told I have the most patience anyone has seen.
I usually just to keep my humility in my mind whenever I talk about myself in general.[/QUOTE]
Being humble is a good trait, but I know all too well the road self-deprication. Don't forget to remind yourself that you're better than think every once in a while.
I'm beginning to think Id prefer thinking this way.
Objectively, Ive done well enough in my job that Ive been steadily employed for nearly 4 years, with several promotions. Superiors, when they do give feedback on my performance, is always positive. Everyone I know more than a little has described me as a hard worker at least once.
Internally, I feel like I'm a hack slacker fraud and it's a fucking miracle I'm not fired. I fear any day now my colleagues will realize this and hate me if they don't already.
I'm trying to complement myself now and again but I have difficulty with it because my initial response to self-assurance is that Im being narcissistic, arrogant, or naive.
They make a good point of how it explains why intermediately-skilled people lack confidence the most.
It's hard as hell to get over that learning hump where you have the knowledge of what's good/not good, but still lack the ability to actually execute it.
[editline]10th November 2017[/editline]
[QUOTE=DesumThePanda;52876790]if you're a creative type, just try to ignore stuff like this. not that it's wrong, but it's not [i]helpful[/i]. don't let stuff like this keep you from putting out stuff you've worked on or doing stuff you're passionate about. if it's worse than you thought it was, oh well, it's a learning experience. you'll never know if your work is for sure good or not until you put it out there[/QUOTE]
I would actually recommend people to embrace it when it comes to creative work. Because if they're at that intermediate stage and dissatisfied with their work, it just shows that even the best artists went thought that same period. There's a light at the end of the tunnel that comes with more experience and knowledge.
[QUOTE=Yogkog;52875681]Thank god I already know I'm retarded[/QUOTE]
avatar fits
tbh haven't seen the talk, but I can understand its findings. ABC journalist Leigh Sales did a book on a similar topic, [i]On Doubt[/i]. In summary, she argues that people who overestimate their abilities have little reason to doubt and analyse their own work.
Meanwhile, people who underestimate their abilities and have lots of self-doubt tend to be critical and reflective on everything they do. Which is actually a good thing, as it means they may be more-open to criticism and therefore how to change for the better. And while reflecting on their own work, they may discover mistakes that they would have otherwise missed, and therefore learn from those mistakes.
I assume all I do is terrible so I get surprised every time it is actually good work that has been done.
If I [I]think[/I] I'm amazing at predicting my own abilities, can this effect apply to me?
[QUOTE=DesumThePanda;52876790]if you're a creative type, just try to ignore stuff like this. not that it's wrong, but it's not [i]helpful[/i]. don't let stuff like this keep you from putting out stuff you've worked on or doing stuff you're passionate about. if it's worse than you thought it was, oh well, it's a learning experience. you'll never know if your work is for sure good or not until you put it out there[/QUOTE]
I think the most important lesson I've ever learned from listening to more successful art people is that you shouldn't look for perfect, you should look for done.
[QUOTE=spazthemax;52876935]Objectively, Ive done well enough in my job that Ive been steadily employed for nearly 4 years, with several promotions. Superiors, when they do give feedback on my performance, is always positive. Everyone I know more than a little has described me as a hard worker at least once.
Internally, I feel like I'm a hack slacker fraud and it's a fucking miracle I'm not fired. I fear any day now my colleagues will realize this and hate me if they don't already.[/QUOTE]
[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome[/url]
[QUOTE=suXin;52878568][url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome[/url][/QUOTE]
Holy shit, i think i suffer from something similar. For an instance I dwell often on something that went wrong at work or having a fear for failure so I tend to overwork my self so I can avoid that feeling.
Thank you for posting it because I never realised that syndrome actually existed and is documented. I only thought I was a negative person or something . Thank!
[QUOTE=DesumThePanda;52876790]if you're a creative type, just try to ignore stuff like this. not that it's wrong, but it's not [I]helpful[/I]. don't let stuff like this keep you from putting out stuff you've worked on or doing stuff you're passionate about. if it's worse than you thought it was, oh well, it's a learning experience. you'll never know if your work is for sure good or not until you put it out there[/QUOTE]
It helps to look at stuff you have made in the past and when you look at it in disgust, you know that you have improved.
[editline]11th November 2017[/editline]
I usually just assume I'm in competent at everything, because it's true. Problem solved.
If you go on FP you're automatically a genius.
[QUOTE=REMBER;52880258]If you go on FP you're automatically a genius.[/QUOTE]
It's just because like everyone on Facepunch is programmer, scientist, lawyer, doctor, artist and of course [del]soldier[/del] general all at once. :v:
[QUOTE=REMBER;52880258]If you go on FP you're automatically a genius.[/QUOTE]
To be fair you need a lot of smartness to post on this forum.
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