# Dunning-Kruger effect The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias. The idea is that newbies often overestimate their skill level, while skilled individuals and experts tend to underestimate their abilities. This effect is closely related to the [[Four stages of competence]]. Newbies are unconscious of their incompetence. They don't realize how much they don't know, and can easily become arrogant, thinking that they know and can do much more than what they actually can. On the opposite end of the spectrum, experts who have reached unconscious competence know a lot more about what they still don't know, which leads them to underestimate the importance and value of what they already know. In addition, they also forget about the path that they had to follow to reach their current level of expertise. Exploring and expanding your limits is a great way to fight against this effect. Do your best to uncover the gaps in your knowledge, for instance by using the [[Feynman technique]] ## References - Unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments, [[David Dunning]], [[Justin Kruger]] - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10626367/