- A pair of social psychologists coined Dunning-Kruger Syndrome to describe low-knowledge people who consider themselves better than others who are smarter than they are.
- Based on research, it is a superiority complex whereby certain individuals have the feeling of having an opinion on everything.
- They are usually the ones who start the discussions on social networks by writing about all the topics, even when they do not dominate them.
The proliferation of social networks has transformed communication between people. Now it is possible to find out what is happening anywhere in the world instantly. At the same time, it has also generated the appearance of users who give their opinion on all topics even if they do not know or dominate them. To define this group of individuals, the concept Dunning-Kruger syndrome, but do you really know what it is?
When the internet becomes a battlefield
In the first instance, it should be noted that everyone is free to express their point of view as long as they do not attack others. It is the basic principle of communication but the problem is that not everyone understands it or carries it out.
With this in mind, discussions in digital media due to differences of opinion are quite common. Especially when dealing with topics such as politics where it is impossible to achieve a general consensus.
From the above, all the forums have been filled with “opinologists”, that is, people who feel the compulsive feeling of writing their point of view without an argument. Sometimes they do it on purpose and others unconsciously but in the end the result is always the same. They are the gasoline that generates fires through the internet.
All of the above was analyzed by social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger from Cornell University. In the end they described this pathology as Dunning-Kruger Syndrome.
What are their characteristics?
Based on his research, it is a superiority complex whereby certain individuals with little knowledge consider themselves better than other people who are more intelligent than they are.
It is also mentioned that this failure of incompetence is due to an error on itself. It is also a cognitive bias whereby people with low intellectual capacity tend to overestimate both their knowledge and their abilities.
In this way, people with Dunning-Kruger Syndrome think they are smarter than others and assume that they are always right. For the same reason, they refuse to admit mistakes and any difference of opinion is the fault of others.
However, this phenomenon is not exclusive to social networks. It can also be seen in other environments such as medical consultations. There are not a few patients who tend to believe that they know more than doctors even though health is not their specialty.
Within the office many people tend to show their point of view on all kinds of issues. The result is not always favorable because many times they fall into contradictions and the only thing they get is to look bad.