Conspiracy Theories and the Dunning-Kruger Effect in the Middle of the Corona Pandemic -Since the COVID-19 coronavirus spreads to many countries, some conspiracy theories have developed widely in society. The WHO warns that conspiracy theories about corona can make it difficult to manage the disease because it spreads misconceptions to the public..
Michael J Spivey writes in Psychology Today, people should believe in doctors and scientists who are involved in the field of viruses, instead of believing in theories that mostly contain disinformation and misinformation that can mislead society.
According to Spivey, thousands of Americans shouldn't have died from this virus. Many people take advice from politicians or certain figures not to stay at home and not wear masks in public. Family members of victims lost their loved ones, not because it was inevitable, but because some politicians assured them that the coronavirus "is no worse than the common cold, believe me."
Science should be more trusted in dealing with viruses because an expert in medical science knows that the biochemistry of human cells and viral particles have some important similarities. However, a politician or figure engaged in medical science does not know this.
Psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger of Cornell University have studied this effect which suggests partial training in a subject can lead to overly high levels of confidence in one's skills. David Dunning and Justin Kruger conducted experiments in three areas: humor, logical reasoning, and English grammar. In the English grammar test, 84 respondents who participated in the experiment were asked to assess themselves after working on the questions.
As a result, it turned out that people with a low ability (respondents in the bottom 10 percent of the population) rated their English language proficiency as very high and reliable, whereas people who had more knowledge tended to rate their ability lower than the scores they obtained.
The research was published for the first time in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 1999 and is entitled "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments". Until now this cognitive bias was popularly known as the Dunning-Kruger effect.
"In many cases, incompetence does not turn out to be confusing or cautious. On the other hand, incapable people are often gifted with inappropriate self-confidence, deluded into their own biases into feeling that they are insightful," wrote Dunning in Pacific. Standard.
One of the reasons why the Dunning-Kruger effect can occur is due to metacognition problems in the individual. "People with limited knowledge bear two burdens. They not only have drawn wrong conclusions but also have an inability to recognize these mistakes," wrote Dunning and Kruger in their research.
People who are exposed to this cognitive bias are often ignorant, clumsy, and don't care deeply about areas they are not good at. Because of that, suddenly he was smart and thought he knew everything. If he were to be patient for a moment and find out more, he would realize that the field that he felt ignorant about was too wide and not as simple as he thought.
How to avoid the Dunning-Kruger effect?
The Healthline website lists the following steps:
1. Give pause to think
People tend to feel confident when they are asked to make decisions in a short time. If you want to avoid the Dunning-Kruger effect, then stop for a moment and take a moment to think about the decisions you will make or the statements that will be made public.
2. Challenge the claims you believe
If you've had assumptions that have been taken for granted, challenge your assumptions. Don't trust instincts or feelings about good or bad things. Try to find contradictions in your beliefs.
3. Change your logic
Try to find other reasons that support your argument. Experiencing new ways of logic will develop your reasoning abilities to be more flexible and increase your metacognitive abilities.
4. Learn to think critically
In the office, workplace, or classroom, learn to think critically. Look for supporting arguments or ask your colleague or teacher about a claim of knowledge, down to the details of the specific evidence on which it is based.
source: https://tirto.id/
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