An exploration of the Dunning-Kruger effect and Impostor Syndrome. This presentation is part of a series that investigates common cognitive biases, and how they impact people and businesses

1. INSPIRING BIAS
CONFIDENCE, EXPERIENCE,
& the Curse of Knowledge...

2. Tortoises aren’t as
awesome as T-rexs,
but they’ve lasted
much longer...

3. Simply put - In evolutionary terms
IT’S GOOD TO BE LAZY : )

4. With that in mind it’s
useful knowing how
we spend our energy...

6. So…..
How much does
thinking cost?

7. OUR BRAIN
2% of our body weight
Burns ~320cal daily:
= 20% Total energy expenditure
= 33% Base energy consumption

8. we’ve evolved
to avoid it as much as
possible

9. default setting

10. HEURISTICS
COGNITIVE BIASES

11. COGNITIVE BIASES
THEY AFFECT ALL OF US

12. Here’s an
example...

13. You’re in
Phuket
enjoying a
dip in the sea

14. Suddenly
you see
a shark!

15. What do
you do?

17. Did you have to
think about it?

19. FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT responses are the
evolutionary grandfather of heuristics
They FORCE us to
make survival
decisions, LITERALLY
WITHOUT THINKING
You live here

20. Heuristics only
begin there...

21. What
COGNITIVE BIASES
that we’ve discussed here before
do you remember?

22. Scarcity Familiarity Availability

23. Today we’re going to look at
Heuristics related to
KNOWLEDGE &
EXPERIENCE

24. Let’s begin with a little game…
Think about a
FAMOUS
SONG
A REALLY SIMPLE ONE
e.g. Twinkle, twinkle..., Happy
birthday..., Jingle bells..., etc.

26. PLEASE WRITE DOWN
YOUR GUESSES
(% to guess song)

27. TAP ON EACH
OTHER’S HANDS

28. DID YOU
GUESS THE
SONG?

29. 50%
2.5%

31. When we’re tapping, we’re hearing
the tune in our heads. But our
listener is only hearing Morse code...

32. THE CURSE OF
KNOWLEDGE
When we
communicate with
others we naturally
assume they have
the knowledge
needed to
understand us.

33. The more we know
about a thing, the
harder it is for us to
imagine not knowing
about it, & the worse
our assumptions
regarding others’
knowledge of it
This is why
giving directions
is so hard...

34. But
THE CURSE OF
KNOWLEDGE
doesn’t end there...

35. Say hello to
McArthur
Wheeler

36. One morning in 1995, Wheeler robbed 2
banks in Pittsburgh without bothering to
wear a mask.
Three months later Police broadcast the
CCTV footage and a tip led to Wheeler’s
arrest within hours.
When cops showed up on his doorstep,
the only thing he could say was,
“...But I wore the juice.”

37. Wheeler was aware lemon
juice could be used to create
an invisible ink. By the same
logic, he reasoned, if he
rubbed lemon juice
over his face, it would
turn invisible as well...

38. Wheeler would have been quickly forgotten, but his
story caught the eye of social psychologists David
Dunning and Justin Kruger who were researching
ILLUSORY SUPERIORITY - A cognitive bias where
people overestimate their own abilities, in relation to the
abilities of others
As a result of their work the pair identified
a new cognitive bias, now known as…
THE
DUNNING–KRUGER
EFFECT

39. “...People with
substantial, deficits in
their knowledge or
expertise lack the
ability to recognize
those deficits and,
therefore, despite
making repeated
errors, they think
they’re performing
competently when
they are not…”

40. “...If you're incompetent,
you can't know you're
incompetent ... The skills
you need to produce a
right answer are exactly
the skills you need to
recognize what a right
answer is.…”
David Dunning

41. Meet Pablo Casals
Casals is considered
one of the greatest
cellists of all time.
In 1963 president John
F. Kennedy awarded
him the Presidential
Medal of Freedom.

42. In a 1957, when Casals was 81, he was asked by
director Robert Snyder who was filming a
documentary about him, why he still practiced 4-5
hours daily. Casals replied:
“Because I think I am
making progress”

43. This humble and charming
admission is our segway into
Imposter Bias - The “mirror” to
Dunning-Kruder

44. In 1978 Dr. Suzanne A. Imes and Dr.
Pauline R. Clance interviewed 150
high-achieving women and
discovered many ascribed their
success to
★ Luck
★ Good timing
★ Others over-estimating them
★ Etc...

45. The women had no
internal recognition
of their own
accomplishments.
THEY FELT
LIKE FRAUDS

46. Following their study Clance and
Imes defined
IMPOSTOR SYNDROME
as an individual experience of
self-perceived intellectual
phoniness (fraud)

47. So what have we learned?

48. The dumbest guy
in the room right
now, is too stupid
to realize how
dumb he is.

49. Please be kind to
him - it’s not his
fault.
I was born this way

50. The smartest
people in the
room right now,
probably feel
they’re just lucky.

51. Remember you’re
here for a reason.
In your business.
In your life.
YOU MADE
THIS HAPPEN

52. You are better and
smarter than you
think you are.
You know more
than you give
yourself credit for.

53. YOU
ARE
WORTHY!

54. THANK YOU!