Ignorant Brave: Symptoms of Dunning-Kruger

Ignorant Brave: Symptoms of Dunning-Kruger

Welcome to the world of the Dunning-Kruger effect, where the real experts mysteriously disappear and are replaced by brave amateurs. This psychological phenomenon, sometimes referred to as the “ignorant brave” syndrome, sheds light on why some people are so convinced they are the smartest in the room – especially if they have barely stepped through it.

Step 1: Never realise you are part of the game!
The very first and perhaps the hardest rule to spot: you may have fallen into the Dunning-Kruger trap yourself without realising it. The first step on the road to your perceived expertise is to mentally remove yourself from the equation, because ‘we are certainly not like the others’. This blind spot against ourselves provides the perfect basis for building our own knowledge – however incomplete it may be.