[socal-piggies] Weeding out people who can't program

[Howard B. Golden]

Thanks Titus. I will read it this weekend.

Here's the "Unskilled and Unaware of It..." article I
mentioned:

http://www.apa.org/journals/features/psp7761121.pdf

"Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in
Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated
Self-Assessments"

by Justin Kruger and David Dunning
Cornell University

Abstract:

"People tend to hold overly favorable views of their
abilities in many social and intellectual domains. The
authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in
part, because people who are unskilled in these
domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people
reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate
choices, but their incompetence robs them of the
metacognitive ability to realize it. Across 4 studies,
the authors found that participants scoring in the
bottom quartile on tests of humor, grammar, and logic
grossly overestimated their test performance and
ability. Although their test scores put them in the
12th percentile, they estimated themselves to be in
the 62nd. Several analyses linked this miscalibration
to deficits in metacognitive skill, or the capacity to
distinguish accuracy from error. Paradoxically,
improving the skills of participants, and thus
increasing their metacognitive competence, helped them
recognize the limitations of their abilities."

Howard