A cognitive bias in which individuals with low ability, expertise, or knowledge at a task systematically overestimate their competence or performance. The effect arises from a dual burden: the lack of domain-specific knowledge both produces poor performance and prevents metacognitive awareness of that deficiency. Parameters: measurable performance deficit (typically bottom quartile) accompanied by self-assessment that significantly exceeds actual performance. Persistence mechanism: documented in peer-reviewed psychological research, taught in cognitive psychology curricula, referenced in behavioral economics and decision science, sustained through the language of clinical and experimental psychology.
[formal: dunning-kruger-effect | substrate: mind | horizon: a moment | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]