Week 2 – The Dunning Krueger Effect and applied rationalism

This week, we are studying a topic called “rationalism”. Rationalism is the view that the world of the “ideas” is far greater and important than what is “real” (e.g., things we can see, touch, feel, smell, taste). This is beacause the world of the ideas is always far more perfect than the real world. For instance, my dream job that I can think of is better than my current job, my dream car in my mind is better than the current car I drive and my dream house that I conjure up in my mind is better than the house I live in.

Please watch the following video on Dunning Krueger Effect and answer the discussions below.

https://youtu.be/4FGnb2lgPBA?si=fsX6EjUZ63HjAqKpLinks to an external site.

Discussion Questions

1. Define Dunning Krueger Effect. Why do you think it happens?

2. Have you ever rationalized or seen other people rationalize about something (e.g., “Aww, I only got 78 out of 100 on the test but everyone else got 81 so its not that bad”)