While this might feel like a slap-in-the-face to many of us, it does make sense, because, as Dunning notes, high order skills are needed to make a sound decision, or to recognize that a conspiracy theory is only a theory. It is cognitively difficult.to accept or reject the statements of an expert or leader—for the skills required to evaluate of our own responses to these statements requires something called Metacognition. Is my thinking distorted or biased regarding this statement? Is my behavior in response to this statement appropriate in this situation? Metacognition requires that we can think about our thinking and reflect on our behavior within a specific context. Dunning puts it this way: “Because they lack the skill to produce correct responses, incompetent people also lack the skill to accurately judge their responses” (Dunning, 2012).
Dunning’s research demonstrates that the more a person knows about a subject, the more likely they are to understate their level of knowledge. An important implication can be drawn: an expert understands the immense scope of any subject (climate science, infectious diseases, psychology and human behavior and so on). They recognize how much is still to be known. Incompetent individuals tend to greatly overestimate their knowledge. They don’t adequately understand the limited nature of their newly acquired knowledge. Google-based knowledge that was acquired three minutes ago isn’t adequate. Indeed, as Stuart Firestein (2012) reports: “we will have to provide the Wiki-raised student with a taste of, and for, the boundaries, the edge of the widening circle of ignorance, how the data, which are not unimportant, frames the unknown. We must teach students how to think in questions, (and) how to manage ignorance”.
The lack of appreciation for expertise and for experts is a form of incompetence. It is blatantly visible in the (now commonly posted) video interviews to be found in the public media. Conspiracy theorists trade in a form of dangerous misinformation (which we discussed previously). These theorists declare with no evidence that democratic pedophiles are operating in the basement of a pizza parlor. Anti-vaccine believers state that vaccines are nothing more than “a Bill Gates plot” There is a host of media followers who explicitly believe blatant and un-verifiable lies that are spewed out by many leaders (especially politicians). The psychological science behind these conspiratorial beliefs is powerful as well as troubling. These scientific findings are troubling in the sense that so many of us can be hoodwinked so easily!
Education (and lack of it) and an appreciation for what we DON’T know
In a previous essay, we quoted Tom Nichols (2018) in his book The Death of Expertise: “Google-fueled, Wikipedia based, Blog-sodden” The point being made is that facts and information are increasingly available at the click of a button. Firestein (2012) goes even further: “facts are available with a few clicks, and probably in the not very distant future by simply asking the wall, or the television, or the cloud—wherever it is the computer is hidden.” Facts and information are ubiquitous, sometimes giving people the perception that they “know it all”.
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