Don’t Judge Too Quickly
Considering an odd comment from her grandmother, Isabelle explores how misinformation and the Dunning-Kruger Effect can influence beliefs and keep others from opening up their minds to new movements and ideas, hindering societal progress.
April 17, 2022
My grandma claims she is the “most anti-feminist person in the world”. Hearing this statement from anyone is appalling, but when your 88-year-old grandmother randomly proclaims this proudly at the dinner table, it is even more shocking. As a woman who lived on her own for several years, refused to get married despite petitions from her boyfriend, and told her son to stop forcing his daughters to dress like “prudes,” you’d think she’d be more approving of the movement.
So what exactly made her so dead-set against it? What it really came down to was the fact that she didn’t truly know what feminism was about. For whatever reason—perhaps misinformation or generational influences—she interpreted feminism as a movement of manipulative women rather than one working for the equality of the sexes.
This trivial experience might seem irrelevant, but it is ultimately reflective of the culture we have cultivated today. We’re so quickly pass judgment and assume we are correct, believing we know more about the topic than we actually do. This phenomenon is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, which states that the less one knows about a subject, the more one is likely to overestimate their knowledge of the subject. In plainer terms, the ignorance of our own ignorance causes us to think as though we are experts on the subject.
30% of the individuals who believed to be more educated than experts supported more conservative vaccination policies such as giving parents the choice not to vaccinate their children, whereas only 16% of those who did not perceive themselves as more knowledgeable supported the policy.
Take for example the vaccine debate. A common misconception that circulates within the anti-vax community is that vaccinations put children at a higher risk for developing autism, and despite no scientific evidence to support such a theory, several opponents of the vaccine still refused to back down from their stance.
In a study conducted to test whether the Dunning-Kruger effect could explain such resistance despite a general scientific consensus on vaccine safety, respondents were asked to rank their perceived knowledge level compared to that of doctors and scientists and answer questions regarding autism. 62% of people with the worse test scores—in comparison to only 15% of the top scorers—thought themselves to be either as or more knowledgeable than doctors/scientists. 30% of the individuals who believed to be more educated than experts supported more conservative vaccination policies such as giving parents the choice not to vaccinate their children, whereas only 16% of those who did not perceive themselves as more knowledgeable supported such a policy.
When left unchecked, this circumstance can escalate, as other human tendencies such as confirmation bias—where one only seeks information that affirms one’s own bias—can prevent one from ever realizing their own misguided understanding.
The Dunning-Kruger effect can manipulate one’s outlook both in how one views their own expertise in a subject matter and in the related policies and discussions surrounding the issue. When left unchecked, this circumstance can escalate, as other human tendencies such as confirmation bias—where one only seeks information that affirms one’s own bias—can prevent one from ever realizing their own misguided understanding. In the end, such ignorance and close-mindedness can hinder the development of genuinely credible social movements, ultimately holding society back from its full potential.
So next time you find yourself forming an impulsive opinion, I encourage you to ask yourself, “Do I really understand the issue?” Because if my grandma had known what it really meant to be a feminist, she would surely be chanting “down with the patriarchy.”
