For today I’d like to talk about some cognitive biases that we’ve probably all done at some point. Us human beings are actually not very good at assessing our own abilities accurately. Generally, we tend to overestimate our capabilities, judging ourselves to be above average in many things such as driving, language, ethics, leadership etc… This is called the Dunning Kruger effect.  But there is also another side to this, where even though you’re entirely capable of doing something, you feel like you’ve got no chance, that your accomplishments are just unearned coincidences. This is called the Impostor Syndrome.

The Dunning Kruger effect is a cognitive bias where incompetent people think they are competent. For example, it’s like reading an article about a subject you previously knew nothing about, and now after reading that one article, you feel like an expert on it, while in reality you’ve barely scratched the surface on the subject. It’s the person with the least knowledge and skill that rates their own ability to be as high as actual experts do. This is because when you lack the expertise to notice the faults in your own work or line of thinking, you believe you’re doing amazing while in fact you’re making mistakes that you don’t even know are mistakes.

Impostor Syndrome is where someone who is actually competent feels like that they’re unqualified or undeserving of their position. You feel like an actor, only playing the role of who you’re supposed to be, waiting for the inevitable time where you’re exposed as the fraud you feel you are inside. These feelings can affect us all, when you are skilled and accomplished at something, you develop a feeling that everybody else is just as good as you, that you don’t deserve the opportunities and recognition that you’ve rightfully earned. There is a phenomenon called Pluralistic Ignorance, it’s when we all separately doubt ourselves privately, while believing that others do not think this way at all. A great way to fix this is to just talk to others about your feelings, you’d be surprised to know how common these feelings are, and how little foundation your fear stands on. 

When you’ve been learning something for a long time, there always comes a point where you realize that there’s so much you still don’t know. But it is exactly at this point where you can develop the humility needed to start your journey of becoming a real expert.The problem with impostor syndrome is that it can stop you from achieving great things you’re capable of because of your own self doubt. You’ll keep good ideas silent, not apply for jobs or education programmes you’d excel at, keep to yourself when you can contribute meaningfully. 

It is our duty to balance out these two extreme biases, make sure you’re not confidently wrong about something, but don’t keep silent when you do know better. A great way to deal with this is… Writing! Because with writing you can examine yourself closely with how familiar you are with the subject, it helps you understand how little and how much you actually know. Best of luck, I’ll see you out there!