David Dunning of Cornell University and Justin Kruger of the University of Illinois published “Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments” in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology [vol. 77, no. 6, pp. 1121-34.]
The paper describes what is now referred to as the Dunning–Kruger effect as a cognitive bias in which the unskilled suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly rating their ability much higher than average. This bias is attributed to a metacognitive inability of the unskilled to recognize their mistakes.
Kruger and Dunning proposed that, for a given skill, incompetent people will:
- Tend to overestimate their own level of skill
- Fail to recognize genuine skill in others
- Fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy
Gun owners suffer from this routinely.
Firearm User Network 
Mar 15, 2014 @ 18:49:41
Mar 15, 2014 @ 18:53:13
I know I certainly had this. Right up until I got told to, “Put up or shut up.”
Most people simply don’t know what they don’t know. In my view, most gun owners are in it for collecting, sometimes hunting, or projecting a desired image (actual marksmanship skill is not important to the image). I think far too many people think that modern shooting is about split times for putting two shots in the A zone at 15 yards using a red dot. Useful, sure, for certain situations. But not conducive to long-term skill.
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Mar 16, 2014 @ 06:51:27
That sums up 98% of the card carrying NRA membership.
Even in competitive speed disciplines where this is important, the top shooters are still quite good at slow fire fundamentals. Fundamental marksmanship is fundamental to all forms of shooting, regardless of speed and distance.
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Mar 16, 2014 @ 09:50:24
Or, to put it in “Joe’s” terms: Those who don’t know, don’t know how much they don’t know. But now I have a scientific name for the shooting ignorati. Thanks, Sgt Buell.
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Mar 18, 2014 @ 13:47:01
Sometimes I’m aware of how much I don’t know. But that’s an opportunity too.
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Mar 18, 2014 @ 14:18:47
That’s an ideal attitude!
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Mar 19, 2014 @ 11:22:04
There are the four stages of learning:
1. Unconscious Incompetence.
2. Conscious Incompetence
3. Conscious Competence
4. Then you go on automatic
Expressed another way:
1. You don’t know that you don’t know
2. You know you don’t know
3. You know that you know
5. Mind muscle memory
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Mar 19, 2014 @ 11:56:26
That’s a good synopsis.
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Mar 19, 2014 @ 15:13:26
When I was shooting High Power I always said that my goal was to someday be as good as most shooters think they are. I never made it topping out at Expert before my eyes gave up due to old age. Most males in American society are sure they were born with at least three skills at which they excel despite never having actually tested themselves. Those are the ability to shoot like Davy Crockett, Drive like Dale Earnheart, and make love like James Bond.
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Mar 19, 2014 @ 19:09:18
This is worth quoting!
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