Some people won't accept help

[twistsol]

I went to the dump this morning with 10 yards of trash and a treadmill. The treadmill was $35 and the trash was $25/yard for a total of $65. I tried to tell the kid that his math was wrong, but he confidently told me a yard is 3x3 so that was the first 9 of my 10 yards and he added $5 for the 10th. I tried to argue and that it should be $285 total, but he got an A in algebra last year so he must be right. I eventually paid my $65 and went about my business.

[LCHIEN]

The phenomenon you are looking for is called the Dunning–Kruger effect. [1, 2, 3]

What is it?
The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias where people with limited knowledge or competence in a specific area greatly overestimate their own skills. Conversely, actual experts often underestimate their abilities, assuming that if a task is easy for them, it must be easy for everyone else too. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Why does it happen?

• Lack of Metacognition: Metacognition is the ability to evaluate your own thinking. People who don't know much about a subject lack the very expertise required to recognize their own mistakes. In short, they "don't know what they don't know."
• The "Mount Stupid" Peak: When someone first starts learning about a topic, they gain a tiny bit of knowledge and their confidence spikes drastically because they cannot yet see the vast complexity of the field.
• Expert Humility: As people become true experts, they realize just how massive and nuanced the subject matter actually is, which drops their confidence back down to a more realistic, cautious level. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

A Common Misconception
It is worth noting that according to the researchers themselves, David Dunning and Justin Kruger, the effect is not about general "stupidity." It applies to everyone. Every single person has blind spots and pockets of incompetence where they mistakenly believe they are highly capable simply because they do not know enough to notice their errors. [1, 2, 3]