Are you as smart as you think

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Are you dreaming of becoming an expert in a particular field? Be careful: a lot of knowledge entails a lot of problems. The main one is the narrow-mindedness inherent in specialists. How this contradictory effect arises, what threatens us and how to deal with it - we tell in this material.

Research shows that narrow specialization leads to the fact that a person becomes less creative and more stubborn.

Experts at Loyola University of Chicago conducted an experiment in which participants were asked the simplest questions related to one topic. This was done so that the subjects felt they knew a certain subject. After that, the scientists appreciated the openness and objectivity of their judgments.

The conclusion of the researchers was unexpected: the more we feel our confidence in a particular area of knowledge, the more closed and monosyllabic we think.

Dr. Victor Otatti called this effect "acquired dogmatism."

When an individual views himself as an expert, he also thinks he is privileged to think and act more dogmatically.

Victor Otatti

We are much more likely to listen to dogmatic and forceful methods of expressing thoughts, which means we are more likely to experts than to beginners.

The reverse side of the research result, however, looks completely illogical. For example, it is noted that the feeling of relaxation and success - which is most often experienced by experts, rather than beginners - stimulates in us openness and breadth of judgment.

When it comes to adapting new knowledge, the expert has a significant advantage. He is able to evaluate the information received and skillfully implement it into the existing paradigm. A beginner is not able to do this: he is more likely to make a mistake and not notice omissions, because he does not have a sufficient knowledge base and experience.

Could it be that the closed-mindedness characteristic of experts is in fact the ability to analyze, evaluate, and verify information?

The illusion of knowledge

In the experiment we talked about above, the problem was that the participants were not really experts in any area of expertise. They were simply allowed to feel this way, creating the illusion of professionalism. However, this was enough for them to change their habitual patterns of behavior and thinking.

Therefore, it is quite possible that many of us suffer from such an illusion in everyday life. This is very dangerous because it creates a sense of omniscience and false confidence. A beginner, having a small idea of a specific subject, does not yet understand how much information he has to learn. Even though he is not ready to call himself an expert in any issue, he is ready to say that there are not so many left to this level. In fact, he has no idea how much more new he has to learn.

Non-professionals quite often suffer from a sense of unjustified superiority, which is called the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Such persons are not capable of realizing the mistakes they have made, as well as recognizing the low level of their qualifications. This statement is also supported by the result of an experiment conducted by Yale University. According to him, people tend to confuse knowledge gained from the Internet after a short search in Google, with actually learned and assimilated information. Unfortunately, finding the answer on the web is not at all the same as increasing your own knowledge.

If you do not know the answer to a question, you understand that you do not have the information you need. Accordingly, in order to solve the problem, you will make efforts and spend your time on it. When you have access to the Internet, the clear line between what you really know and what you think you know is blurred.

Matthew Fisher is a faculty member at Yale University.

Woe from Wit

Of course, the Dunning-Kruger effect has another vector of influence, even more destructive. And it doesn’t concern newbies.

The trouble is that experts from any field may feel insecure, thinking that their knowledge is not exclusive, but generally known.

The result of this behavior is what we call "grief from the mind." Experts find it difficult to accept the point of view of a beginner, they stop seeing certain aspects of the problem or that information that seems obvious to people without specific knowledge. Most likely, this will lead to additional difficulties: it will be difficult for experts to conduct a conversation with a beginner, find common simple and interesting topics for conversation.

In general, this is summed up in the term "expert syndrome":

1. You become an expert in a certain area of knowledge, subject, skill, and then you lose the ability to discuss this topic with someone who is not so qualified. In addition, even if the conversation does begin, then you will lose sight of a huge layer of information, considering it unnecessary, well-known, uninteresting.
2. When a certain part of knowledge passes into the "known by default" category, it becomes more difficult for beginners to get involved in the general discourse and, thus, they cannot master even basic information.
3. Because of this, those new professionals who try to engage in dialogue and collaborate with experts have impressive experience gaps. They may not know basic concepts and terms, and have difficulty understanding basic ideas.

It would seem, what does the experts care about beginners. But in fact, this problem is very complex and affects everyone.

A study by Cornell University has shown that people who are skilled in a particular field will claim to know even about what they have never heard of. Moreover, they can tell you a lot of interesting things about the concept you just came up with.

Since we all know a little about psychology, you've probably heard these terms too: metatoxin, biosexual, retroplex. Do you remember? Can you roughly explain, at least to yourself, what exactly these words mean?

Fine! None of these terms are real. They are all invented and do not mean anything at all.

What to do?

Whether you are a beginner or an expert, remember that you tend to underestimate or overestimate your own knowledge. The safest thing to do is to keep in mind the thesis “knowing is good” and not making the information received as a basis for self-esteem, behavior or way of thinking.