The Psychology of the Breathtakingly Stupid Mistake

Scientific American ^ | February 23, 2016 | David Z. Hambrick

[Torcert]

This article seems strangely appropriate given the rise of Trump.

[El Cid]

I saw the title and thought it had something to do with voting for Obama. Twice.

[JEDI4S]

All this time I thought it was LIME JUICE that made you invisible.

Hmmmmm.....

[Liz]

BOL.....good one.

[Red Badger]

He must have read it on the Interwebs, so it must be true!................

[KyCats]

One glaring oversight. The article fails to mention how stupid it is for leftist trolls to try to pose as legitimate members of Free Republic.

[Red Badger]

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups...............George Carlin.

Never attribute to evil what can be easily explained by stupidity..........Robert J. Hanlon...........

[Theophilus]

Landmesser

[Talisker]

The confidence-skill disconnect has been dubbed the Dunning-Kruger effect, after a study by social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger. Dunning and Kruger had Cornell undergraduates perform tests of humor, logic, and grammar, and then rate how well they think they performed compared to other subjects in the study. The worst performing subjects, whose scores put them in the 12th percentile, estimated that they had performed in the 62nd percentile. Summarizing the findings, Dunning noted, "Poor performers - and we are all poor performers at some things - fail to see the flaws in their thinking or the answers they lack." When we think we are at our best is sometimes when we are at our objective worst

Dunning-Kruger didn't even discover what they claimed to discover. They're just another self-hatred, "check your enthusiasm" psyop against self-confidence and positive thinking. Psychological poison of the type that is literally shoveled at white college students nonstop to create and maintain modern liberalism. Teaching young people that giving up is facing reality.

And that is why they support Bernie.

And the teachers of the poison support Hillary.

[VanShuyten]

Good subject for Scientific American, which went from a respected scientific journal to a left-wing tabloid, losing many of its subscribers in the process.

[MNJohnnie]

You seem to have this habit of posting emotional based verbal attacks, usually based on the logical fallacy of stating your opinion as if ti were fact, and them pretending that everyone else is unreasonable for not seeing things the way you do in your emotion based bubble world.

Why are you incapable of seeing the disconnect between your passive/aggressive posting behavior and your narcissistic self image?

You are what you claim to be fighting against. Really sad.

[Torcert]

That is equally applicable.

[pgkdan]

This article seems strangely appropriate given the rise of Trump.

Yeah. Sort of like posting that reply. Pull your head out of your ass son. You look stupid walking around like that.

[sparklite2]

No, it’s lemon juice. But you have to put in on everyone else’s face, not yours. That makes them squint so much they can’t see you. Or, of course, you (the robber) could just rob the bank with your own eyes closed because if you can’t see them, they can’t see you either.

[Dr. Sivana]

Or, in what is widely regarded as one of the top mascot failures in history, when Wild Wing of the Anaheim Ducks caught himself on fire attempting to leap over a burning wall (cheerleaders pulled him from the flames and he returned to action later in the game, unhurt). “This story of Duck a l'Orange County is no canard. A duck could get fired for this, or at least demoted to the Rotisserie League,” the New York Times reported.

The New York Times actually has a clever reporter, and he's stuck writing sports/strange buttrue stories.

[sparklite2]

They have my sympathy. Over the years, I’ve tried twice to maintain an account at DU. Never lasted longer than half a day. It’s hard to keep your mouth shut in a sea of opposition stupidity.

[corkoman]

Omni Magazine had more scientific merit than recent Sci American editions.

Embarrassing. Ridiculous.

[VanShuyten]

Dunning and Kruger wrote a great paper. You should read it. It explains a lot in academia and management.

A quick version says incompetent people believe they are much more competent than they actually are, and that very competent people believe they are slightly less competent than they are. Because of social pressure, this leads to poorer ideas becoming more acceptable to more people than would be the case if pure logic ruled.

If you think about that, then the support for bad ideas, especially evident in this election year, is more understandable, although more frustrating.

[JEDI4S]

Tried the “eyes closed” thingy with an ex-girlfriend once. Almost got BOBBITIZED.....

Now, fresh squeezed or concentrate?

Reminds of a Zeppelin song ....

[sparklite2]

I actually knew a little girl (hello, Peggy!) who would squat down on the front lawn to pee with her eyes tightly closed so folks around couldn’t see her.