New article in OBHDP (September 11th, 2024)

Does expertise protect against overclaiming false knowledge?

Stav Atir, Emily Rosenzweig, David Dunning

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749597824000463

Recognizing the limits of our knowledge is a fundamental skill that underlies many decisions, from the mundane to the weighty: Do I know enough to complete the task my boss assigned me? Should I consult a specialist before prescribing that drug? Do I know enough about these retirement options to choose the best one for me? Overestimating how much we know is a recipe for poor outcomes, potentially leading to confident but ill-advised choices. In this article, the authors propose that the more a person knows about a topic (true expertise), the less likely they are to “overclaim” knowledge in that topic. They found support for their hypothesis across an internal meta-analysis of 17 studies. To perform well, employees must possess relevant knowledge and be able to recognize which knowledge they do not have. This paper suggests that whereas “feeling like an expert” predisposes people to overclaim knowledge, true expertise provides a modest protection against doing so.

P.S. if you can’t access the full-text let us (m-kouchaki@kellogg.northwestern.edu or mikebaer@asu.edu) know and we’d be happy to share a copy.