It’s easy to think you’re a font of knowledge. And while you may have plenty of skills and expertise, it’s quite likely you know less than you think.
If you consider yourself reasonably intelligent and educated, you might assume that you have a fair grasp on the core ways the world works – knowledge about the familiar inventions and natural phenomena that surround us.
Now, think about the following questions: How are rainbows formed? Why can sunny days be colder than cloudy days? How does a helicopter fly? How does a toilet flush?
Next, ask yourself: could you give a detailed response to any or all these questions? Or do you have only the vaguest gist of what’s happening in each case?
If you are like many of the participants in psychological studies, you may have initially expected to perform very well. However, when they are asked to offer a nuanced answer to each question, most people are completely stumped – just as you may be, too.
This bias is known as an “illusion of knowledge”. You may think that […]
Overconfidence, yes–many of us, including myself, overestimate our own knowledge–but also their media sources are intentionally poisoned by propaganda that lashes out at everything that doesn’t reflect a conservative, white, male, heterosexual, Christian point of view.
That is why we have a constitution that prohibits religions from overtaking our government.