Hello, dear friends and respected colleagues! In life, we have met quite self-confident people who categorically express their point of view and reject all reasonable, from our point of view, arguments. Congratulations, you are lucky enough to see the owners of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Here I will give my understanding of this effect. In 1999, psychologist David Dunning and his graduate student Justin Kruger published a paper in which they describe in detail a phenomenon called the Dunning-Kruger effect. This is a mental distortion, which is that “people with a low level of qualifications draw erroneous conclusions and make unsuccessful decisions, but are not able to recognize their mistakes due to their low level of qualifications.” Such people have very high self-esteem. Such “spiritually advanced” plumbers and milling operators really consider doctors to be fools and imbeciles who do not know how to heal. When I was an oncologist, I met many such representatives. That is, a person, as they say, “goes out of his way to prove the correctness of his opinions and actions.” Because of this, people dispute many scientific facts, interpreting them in their own way. There were clients who were “hooked” on working with pendulums and considered themselves “dowsers.” I had acquaintances who worked “with luminiferous energies.” Mostly, these were former technicians, watchmen, and elevator operators who studied with the same watchmen. There is a very strong desire to show one’s level of development by belittling others. You can become higher by increasing your awareness, level of academic intelligence, or lowering your environment. Aristotle said this well - “Uneducated people in the eyes of the crowd seem more convincing than educated people.” They controlled every decision by looking at the vibration of the thread with the attached nut. And it is useless to tell them that this pendulum will only show your desire, because the hand will move the pendulum in the direction YOU need. If a person does not want to go to training, the pendulum will show the correctness of his decision. But they presented it as communication with the Cosmos, the Universe, as the opinion of the Higher Powers. Once I communicated with such a “professional” owner of the frames. I asked the question: “Is the contents of this tube of cream useful or harmful?” The cream was imported, and the person considered it definitely harmful. Naturally, the frames showed significant harm. I put this tube into a box of Russian shaving cream and asked: “Is the contents of the tube of cream in this box useful or harmful?” He said, and the frames confirmed the usefulness of this content. When working with a pendulum, with frames, the body must be unblocked, the energy must flow smoothly, without any obstacles. There should be no bias regarding the issue being addressed. Only then will the answer be correct. To be honest, I have never met such “unblocked” people. There are several possible reasons for the effect. Firstly, no one wants to consider themselves below the average level of development; such people tend to overestimate their self-esteem. You always want to consider yourself an expert on any issue. Secondly, some individuals find it easier to admit ignorance in others than in themselves. This creates the illusion that they are above average, even if they are in an equivalent position. There is an expression, I don’t remember where or when I heard it: “Put two geniuses together, and they will consider the one sitting next to him a fool. Put two fools next to each other, and they will agree that each of them is a genius." People susceptible to the Dunning-Kruger effect have the following characteristics: - do not recognize their ignorance and their lack of qualifications; - do not recognize true mastery in others, putting them down lower than themselves and devaluing their knowledge and skills; - do not recognize the presence of their inadequacy. For example, they will foam at the mouth to prove that their pendulum will give reliable information that this couple will be happy in their family life. The opinion of a psychologist who sees the incompatibility of this couple will be devalued, and such a psychologist will admitthem like a charlatan. Is it okay that he later turned out to be right?; - they have unlimited confidence in themselves and their expertise. The Dunning-Kruger effect is that ignorance carries with it the inability to accurately assess one's own ignorance. Their own mental rubbish is presented as the ultimate truth. Such people believe that they have unique knowledge. A true expert can doubt most of the time, and this gives him the opportunity to get to the bottom of the truth. From the outside, it looks like highly qualified people, on the contrary, are not confident in their conclusions and tend to underestimate their abilities. Many highly educated specialists suffer from insufficient confidence in their abilities, considering others to be more competent. They may experience “imposter syndrome,” which is typical for fairly intelligent people. This is not observed among the ignorant. “I believe that this is so, and there should be no other opinion.” Here are some quotes on the Dunning-Kruger effect: Charles Darwin - “Ignorance is more likely to give rise to confidence than knowledge”; Bertrand Russell - “One of the unpleasant properties of our time is that those who have confidence are stupid, and those who have at least some imagination and understanding are filled with doubts and indecision"; "If you saw from what source people's judgments and interests flow, you would stop seeking approval and the praise of people" Marcus Aurelius. "Stupidity is categorical, ignorance is aggressive" V. Kashpirovsky. The Dunning-Kruger effect reveals a major flaw in human thinking. This applies to absolutely everyone - all people are competent in certain areas of knowledge, and at the same time they do not understand anything in many other areas of life. But knowledge in one area gives them the right to judge many things, considering themselves “experts in everything.” Professional athletes or actors may consider themselves professional politicians. The Dunning-Kruger graph shows that many people imagine themselves at its peak, and consider the rest of the “smart guys” and the manifestation of their intelligence in the pit of the graph. A true expert constantly “travels” along the graph from the level of expertise to the “pit”. There he looks for more reliable information, increases his expertise and returns. He becomes much higher in understanding this issue, but he still does not reach the conceit of the owner of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Confucius said: “True knowledge is to know the limits of one’s ignorance.” You need to understand that the old life algorithms no longer work, and new algorithms and strategies are needed. But this understanding leads to the fact that a person recognizes the ineffectiveness of his existing strategy of behavior, how he goes through life, how he perceives the world and communicates with the environment, that is, that his map of the world is incorrect. It is difficult to admit this, since the Shadow is affected, and the person resists change, proving to everyone that he is doing everything right, and is an expert in this matter. This is how the Dunning-Kruger effect is formed. A person integrates his knowledge into the existing system of his being, simplifying many strategies life. By promoting work with a pendulum, a person makes the choice easier for himself and others, leading him almost to magic. By compiling matrices and tables of “luminiferous energies,” a person asserts himself among the same spiritual degenerates, of which there are a great many. The “state of an expert” from the Dunning-Kruger effect is also reflected at the bodily level, demonstrating knowledge and confidence in one’s expertise. These are people with a confident posture, a proudly raised head, and a condescending gaze, demonstrating the “rich erudition of an uneducated head.” A real expert does not argue with them. Why? Against them, the best technique from the arsenal of psychological aikido is “...And don’t challenge a fool.” As one wise man said, arguing with such people is like playing chess with a pigeon. He will sweep away all the pieces, shit on the board, and fly off to tell everyone how great he made you. It’s better not to mess with them, this is a special subculture of “professional.