Saturday, August 21, 2010

incompetent self analysis

From 'The Agnostic's Dilemma' (NYTimes):
When people are incompetent in the strategies they adopt to achieve success and satisfaction, they suffer a dual burden: Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it.

the article also cites:
Justin Kruger and David Dunning, “Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties of Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-assessments,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1999, vol. 77, no. 6, pp. 1121-1134
these authors have several related articles

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Interesting. I have worked with people in the past who were so incompetent they didn't even know it. I don't know what's more awful -- to not be aware or to be aware. At least awareness might offer the possibility to learn and grow, to become competent. Unless it's something in which there's no avenue to take to become competent.

What I still don't understand is how incompetent people manage to get the jobs that elude competent people?