Psychology ETDs

Publication Date

Summer 7-2026

Abstract

The well-documented tendency of people to be poor estimators of their relative abilities can be problematic in real life. These errors in are highly asymmetric: the worst performers dramatically overestimate their relative ability, whereas the best performers underestimate theirs (Kruger & Dunning, 1999). There are two possible causes of this misjudgment of relative ability: 1) participants are poor estimators of their own performance, or 2) participants are poor estimators of the comparison group’s performance. Kruger and Dunning (1999) attributed overestimation in the worst performers to the former problem but attributed the underestimation in the best performers to the latter problem. Errors in estimating the performance of others have not been empirically studied in this context. The present study therefore examined the pattern of such errors to determine how they contribute to the DKE. We found that, in certain contexts, participants did assume others performed the way they themselves did. In some cases, this misestimation of the performance of others may be a contributor to the DKE. At the same time, the present research indicates that the Dunning-Kruger effect has multiple causes.

Degree Name

Psychology

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Psychology

First Committee Member (Chair)

Eric Ruthruff

Second Committee Member

Derek Hamilton

Third Committee Member

Jeremy Hoogeveen

Fourth Committee Member

Benjamin Clark

Language

English

Keywords

Dunning-Kruger, Overconfidence, Performance judgments

Document Type

Thesis

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