Bertrand Russell said, "the trouble with the world is that the stupid
are cocksure, while the intelligent are full of doubt". Recent research
in psychology suggests that our confidence often exceeds our competence.
Our brains, researchers claim, take shortcuts and jump to conclusions
that flatter us. Can we accurately assess what we know, or are we all
subject to the fool's dilemma? Author Laura Penny talks to
psychologists and writers about new perspectives on the age-old
philosophical problem of human ignorance and self-delusion.
Laura Penny is an Assistant Professor of Contemporary and Early Modern Studies at University of King's College, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
She is also the author of:
Your Call is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullshit and
More Money Than Brains: Why School Sucks, College is Crap and Idiots Think They're Right.
Participants in the program:
Scott Bakker is the author of the novels
The Darkness That Comes Before;
The Warrior-Prophet;
The Thousandfold Thought;
Neuropath;
The Judging Eye; Disciple of the Dog; and
The White-Luck Warrior. He lives in London, Ontario, and maintains a blog called
Three Pound Brain.
David Dunning is Professor of Psychology at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He is the author of numerous articles available on his
Cornell web page.
Dan Gardner is a political commentator and columnist for The Ottawa Citizen and the author of Risk and Future Babble. You can find him on
Twitter Maggie Toplak is Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Training for the Clinical-Developmental Program in Psychology at York University in Toronto, Ontario. A list of her articles is available at at
here.
Reading ListSelf-Insight:Roadblocks and Detours on the Path to Knowing Thyself by
David Dunning.
A Mind of It's Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives by
Cordelia Fine.
Thinking Fast and Slow by
Daniel Kahneman.
What Intelligence Tests Miss: The Psychology of Rational Thought by
Keith Stanovich.
Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know? by
Philip E. Tetlock.
Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments by David Dunning &
Justin Kruger.
Wishful Seeing: More Desired Objects Are Seen as Closer by Emily Balcetis & David Dunning.