Incompetent and Unaware

I know it's been ages since I've actually said anything interesting, so thanks for persevering with me, gentle reader.

I find psychology fascinating. Part of this is the comfort of knowing that many of my reactions are in fact very human, and part of it is validation of my belief that I'm really not like most people (or, actually, most women).

This article is intriguing in both these ways: http://www.apa.org/journals/features/psp7761121.pdf

Go ahead, read it. Read the whole thing! Skip over the stats analysis like I did, but definitely read at least the intro, just so you know why "But I wore the juice" is funny.

So here are two of my conflicting reactions to the article (which you have just read, right? It's really interesting and well-written, apart from the stats bits which made me cross-eyed).

Firstly, there are some skills which I may not realise that I'm no good at. This is deeply worrying. 8) If you know me (and if you don't, why are you reading this?) you know that I like being good at things. Particularly, I like being smart. One of the quickest ways to get me angry is to imply that I'm stupid. (Remember how Seneca said that anger is a failure of expectations? I *expect* you to know that I'm smart.) But from these results, even if I'm presented with evidence that I'm no good at something (say, comedy, for instance) then I won't realise it, because I'm no good at it.

Worrisome!

Secondly, people consistently generally over-estimate their own skills. This one is not so bad for me, because many of the skills on which I pride myself have been objectively measured (many, many times) through formal, university-level exams, and the fact is that I *am* good at them. So, phew. This is one of the "I'm not like most people" things, I think. Anyone who's seen me immediately after an exam knows that I'm chronically unable to believe that I've done well until I have the high mark as proof. I think I'm much more likely to believe in a false consensus: everyone else can do what I do, because it is in fact, fairly easy. Except that really, no, not always. Some of the things I do are hard for most people.

Yay me!

Of course, the article isn't perfect. For one thing, the subjects are volunteer university students, so it's applicability to "normal people" might be hard to gauge. But then, I'm more like a university student than a "normal person" (and you are too) so I choose to believe that it's a freakin' excellent article which really helps to explain how come some people can spend all their *life* being incompetent. And no, this is not a secret message for you. I'm not talking about you. I like *you*. Geez, sensitive much? 8)