Ah yes, Dunning-Kruger. I know all about that. The scientists, Faye and Freddy, determined all sorts of important things which I am an expert in.

Come on man, we already knew this...

The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.

I thought "over-claiming" was a type of theft that can happen at the airport baggage claim area.

It's so sad to know this large of a percentage of people will lie like this. They make themselves look even more stupid. A great man once said "To truly know anything, one must first realize they know nothing at all." Admitting you don't know is the best chance you have to learn, despite what it may make people think of you.

I pretty much never comment on this channel, I still very much enjoy watching SciShow! This particular webcast is the exception. A very interesting topic. I do my best to verify topics that I come across, things I'm interested in, not always an easy thing to do. I admit... I think of myself as a fount of useless knowledge. I do try to verify the things that I talk about with people I know, if I have no clue, I will say so, but if its something I think I know about, then you'll have a hard time shutting me up. Anyway, thanks for this one (webcast). It just so happens this was a part of the topic of discussion today at my local pub. Thanks SciShow, Hank, you're awesome! Thank You!

I think this is one of my favourite videos you all have done. You're killing it! Keep up the great work!

The heart of any scientific inquiry is "I don't know". Loved the way it was put :) Thanks Hank Green for all the excellent episodes :)

Good presentation Hank, thank you. This just reinforces the reality that we live in a culture of liars. I deal with customer service in my line of work and the one thing that is drilled into my head is that you never tell a customer:"I don't know" which I usually follow up with:"but I know someone who does, I will ask them, and then we can get the problem solved." I am wierd(wired) like that. I like to be honest with people instead of feeding them a line of BS, and some false image of me being a know it all. I like to be told the truth even if the truth is uncomfortable. This is one big problem with customers, clients, patients, etc... many of them subconsciously or habitually expect to be lied to about a problem, then when someone comes along and pops their bubble they get all mad about it instead of saying "how refreshing, someone who is trying to be up front and honest with me."

People think that they're special snowflakes,and will always adopt anything that inflates their egos,including ideologies that say they'll live after death eternaly.

Is it just me or do the 4 white squares around Hank's shirt buttons look brighter than the other white squares on his shirt?

I dont know many things, thats why i keep coming at SciShow! Thanks everyone engaged at this channel!

EXCELLENT video. very timely and informative.

You guys rock. Thanks again for doing this.

One of the best videos SciShow has done, and very timely...

This video came very in handy for a discission I just had. I felt extremely sure about everything I said and I remain sure even after watching this video. Rather than finding flaws in my own arguments I search for instances when my "opponent" finds the critical flaws and tells me what I was wrong about. I would consider myself open to admit that I may lack some important parts in my reasoning patterns but I find my friends to often agree with what I say because I am good at sounding convincing, not just because the things I say but because I strive to sound confident and self-aware witch in turn makes the opponent look up to your arguments. I'm basically narrowing the number of possibilities there are to critisize my arguments so that there is a chance for me to learn from my mistakes. Maybe I would be better of practising on my own instead of just waiting for other people to find my flaws.

Another quality video as always. Thanks, i love this show! :D

This is very interesting as im an epistemologist. One of the hardest things for me is to be unbiased. When a touchy topic comes up like global warming or vaccines, like every one i experience the initial hot cognition process, and now i can actually feel parts of my brain straining at different times. When these touchy topics come up, i feel that initial feeling, then acknowledge the feeling and try to counter it. The easiest way i have found is find grey areas like conspiracies or history. This way i can use a combination of evidence and psudeo-evidence to both prove and disprove something. This breaks down a bias barrier i have within myself and it becomes easier to look at things objectively. I will admit I am far from knowing everything I want to, mostly because i spend so long making sure every understanding isn't tainted with bias from cognitive strain due to my current beliefs, and i try to overcome hot cognition in order to also be unbiased so the information isn't tainted before i even get a chance to look at it. I just love the psychology of people. For example, if a sex addict lacked empathy, would that sex addict become a rapist. Is that the difference between the chemistry in these 2 brains, one has empathy sections firing up and the other doesn't Instead of people trying to know everything, they should stuck their heads into academic books. I know a lot of things but i would never say im qualified. When i claim somethinbg, i reference the source, and if the source didn't get it right, or needed to be corrected, then i am open to saying, whoops i had it wrong, here's the evidence, why can't others?

I am a font of useless trivia, with specialties in fantasy and soft sci-fi, JRPGs, D&D, and Pokemon. If I ever claim to be an expert in anything else, feel free to contest it. =)

Great video. Love this kind of content!!! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

This is great! Absolutely hilarious I was laughing entire time because including myself, everyone I know has done this to the extreme at one point or another.

This is something I have been trying to drill into my kids head. That not only is it okay to be wrong, but as a kid you are going to be wrong a LOT, and it's not your fault for lacking knowledge. However you have to be able to recognize when you do have that deficiency, and to either seek out the knowledge, or defer to those who have it.

I was at the Retro-Plex yesterday, cool place. It's like a mall but each section is themed in a different decade of the past 100 years.

Honesty with oneself in self-awareness is incredibly difficult, even after consciously acknowledging how much about this world you don't know. It's almost impossible to escape one's ego for any length of time.

I loved this. knowledge is demonstratable.

I remember that, when I started University, they made us follow a preparatory math course just to be sure to get at least the first lectures. During one of the phases of that two-weeks course, we were stuck in demonstrations, because it's often hard to undeniably prove something you know it's obvious, e.g. "Demonstrate that 0 is the only number that, multiplied by any given number, gives you 0". It has been important for me to think about that, it was important for all of us. It showed how much scientists are obsessed with proving things, even when it's something we all know: just to be sure. The experiments narrated in this video reminded me this. Some scientists spent time and money to prove that humans are dumb. I think I might just have fallen in love with some of those scientists.

I am personally vexed by tests that don't allow you to say you don't know, or ones in which you are encouraged to pick an answer even if it could be left blank.

I think it also helps to embrace being wrong. Rejoice in it. Think about it... when you learn that you are wrong about something, that means you never have to be wrong about that thing ever again. For the rest of your entire life (if you can remember it of course). That's awesome! So many people are defensive about their past, not wanting to admit to themselves (I think that's a way bigger issue for most people than admitting to others or looking stupid) that they have held wrong beliefs and possibly even acted on them for so long. But you can't change your past. You can change your future, and if you look forward to being better informed you might seek to falsify your own beliefs rather than to verify them, which is what everyone should be doing.

This was one of your best videos so far.

This blind spot also helps out quite a bit. Think of going to job interview and admitting you don't any of the things needed for the job. You may not know exactly what the job entails but you will most likely be able to the job after some training.

its intersting to see how vlog brothers influence scishow. I think this is the first time noticing it. might have to go back to try and find more.

Am I the only one who immediately thought of Hank's song, "I know"?

When engineers have conversations with each other, I get the impression that we all know that around one in five technical terms brought up will be one that we merely pretend to understand. It's done to get through a conversation or a meeting a little faster. If the term is important, we can look it up later. The important skill is knowing the best times to interrupt someone and get the meaning of an unfamiliar term. A corollary is knowing when not to ask, as you're pretty sure the person speaking doesn't know it either, and they're just repeating what they've been told.

Great video. And I saw the reference to Tuesday there...

"I don't know" is one of my favorite and most used phrases.

Great topic.

Ive come to find that the less someone knows the more they think they know, and the more you know, you start to realize you dont know anything, campared to what can be known.

I sure as heck got better at admitting "I don't know" when I started working in a museum and getting bombarded with questions left and right by kids. I also got better at filling gaps in my knowledge when they were made known to me.

I've said for a long time now that there is a direct correlation between how much you can trust someone and how often they say "I don't know"

This is a really interesting video, and opened my eyes to my own personal self-serving biases. I am typically one to not use the phrase "I don't know" and to find an answer for every problem, even if it is a temporary one. I am learning the power of the statement "I don't know" though as I age and hope to truly understand it before I enter my career as a healthcare professional. Although that may seem like a negative thing (after all medical professionals have to know everything) to use the phrase in a professional setting. Wouldn't you, as a patient hear "I don't know" rather than a lie about what could possibly be going on. Mis and over-diagnosis is a real problem in this country, and it is due to doctors and nurses relying on self-serving biases to treat patients than actual medical knowledge, and that is something that I hope to change as I enter the field of healthcare.

This confirms what I already knew. Most people just like to listen to the sound of their own voice.

BIAS BLIND SPOT IS THE MOST FRUSTRATING THING EVER!!!! I recognized that I had it in English class when I realized I was much better at critiquing others' papers than my own. What made it more frustrating is the fact that I KNEW my paper had tons of errors (I'm pretty awful at essay writing) and I still couldn't find any.

I love the Dunning-Kruger Effect when playing MP games. Getting yelled at by the worst player on the team about how bad i am when i'm leading the team score. Its wonderful.

It is important to note the distinction between over-claiming and making educated assumptions into the possible meanings of the made up terms based on existing knowledge of actual concepts that they can be reasonably associated with from context. New terms and concepts are coined all the time in various fields, and sometimes, when one is put on the spot without the time to verify whether the concept cited is something that exists, one may feel it better to feign competence until they can look further into it so long as doing so causes no harm. In other words, the "fake it until you make it" effect.

THE video so many people need to watch...

"I don't know" is my default answer to everything

As a utilitarian and fervent intellectual, as well as a person who doesn't like being wrong, I always strive to point out my own flaws and improve. Although, unfortunately, some changes are difficult all the same, I just keep an open mind and try not to let bias or pesky emotion impair my judgement.

Hi there, SciShow! I would love for people to learn about the terrifying and sudden nature of cerebral aneurysms! I had one rupture at 19 and I think it would make for an interesting video topic!

I was waiting for you to mention the Dunning-Kruger effect... it was like a suspense-thriller for me lol

Hmm... Very insightful 🤔💜

I would have hoped that somewhere in the discussion the reference to the important notion ''It may therefore be prudent to accept help from others or to actively seek it out''. Peer-Reviewing in a general ''everyday'' sense of critiquing I wish, could be much more attainable. Something that hopefully becomes ever more attainable as a result of increased education within societies, and increased intra-determination to learn things.

I've sat across the table from CxOs who did not understand cash flows but definitely thought they did and had no problem calling me dumb and protesting too much. It is ironic that a proper education is the only way we can feel dumb. (thanks again for Crash Course, btw!)

Those sir are three magic words!

Yes you guys went with the one o chose or voted for I'm so excited when does the new channel go up

"I don't know" is my favorite phrase

Good Show!

I always try think critically about my arguments and try to admit as much as I can that I don't know something instead of doing assumptions. But now I'm even more in doubt about whether I'm actually doing it enough or I just think that I know what I do or don't know. That maybe because I was familiar with the Dunning-Krugger effect and how we tend to not judge as clearly our own reasoning I was actually letting my guard down by trying to take counter-measures. Another interesting topic that is somewhat related is *the illusion of asymmetric insight* (I think that was the name). We tend to think we know other people very well, while in reality if you were asked how much do you think your friends know about you, you'd say not so much.

Saying "I don't know" to my students rather frequently. I've learned a lot of interesting things because of this.

This is very interesting, I'm gonna be more careful when saying I know about something now! Thanks for the enlightenment!

The Dunning-Kruger effect has been carefully nurtured in the U.S. by the so-called educational system, which prioritises building the students' self-esteem over mastery of academic subject matter. Some time ago a study tested students in the most developed countries on their mastery of mathematics and then asked them how well they thought they had done. The American students, as a group, had the lowest scores on the test, but gave themselves the highest rating. Thank you, NEA!

I honestly don't think I would have been caught with any of this, I say "I don't know" daily. Because I seriously don't.

Scishow psych? I'm so excited!!

I love this video ❤

Damn hank that "I don't know" line got me goin

I love ghis channel!!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍

Thanks.

LOST IT AT 4:07, LOVE YOU TO BITS, HANK!! XDD lmao, yeah, we dumb.

Somewhat caught me out doing exactly this. And now I know I do this, and try to avoid it.

"I don't know" ,something John said in the vlogbrothers. It cracked me up 😂

I work with someone who overclaims all the time, often saying he knows the answer to a question before he even understands the question that was asked. Of course I'm sure i'm guilty of this from time to time myself, but damn it's annoying when encountering people that do it ALL THE TIME.

"I know, therefore I am." - Ronald Descartes

Aww, i was hoping some green slime would drop on Hank's head when he said I don't know.

Thinking, Fast and Slow !

Interesting that you should bring this up Hank. I happen to be an expert on the subject!

I am extremely good at not overclaiming.

I realised this a long time ago. People in general talk about things they have no idea about, myself included except a lot less now that I am conscious, I really have no real knowledge on many things. Then again who has the time to learn these days....Running around doing a 9-5 never really provides you with the time to really investigate things, I realised this when in a long period of unemployment.

what font is that for the title text?

I already knew all of this!

There is a reason why I love Google, it has helped me fix so many erroneous thoughts. I am really ashamed of some of the things I have picked up in my youth.

Intelligence isn't about how much you know its realizing how much you don't know.

I love this video

YES! Scishow Psych!!

Amazing. I like to think that I am very honest when it comes to things I know, but after watching this video I am not so sure anymore. Is there an online test or something similar I could take to see how biased I am?

i think one of the reasons we may overclaim, especially in tests, is cos from a young age in schools we are told to attempt and answer a question even if we don't know the actual answer, especially in any kind of test, we as a society are not very accepting of failures (from my point of view), but i don't know, i am probably wrong, i mean i am just a kid...

4:20 "What's in the boxes behind John?"

I'm so psyched for scishow psych!! .........I'll just myself out

I tend to underestimate my abilities and second guess myself if a problem I am solving seems too easy...that can be an issue.

I know *everything* there is to know about the Dunning-Kruger effect! :p

This is probably why you never actually see anyone ever admit they lost an argument on the Internet.

please tell John i am thankful for his encouragement on this subject on tuesday.

This is why I always come out of a test confident, and than get my mark back and [insert Jackie Chan meme]

"I don't know" coming from a scientist as an answer? *SHOCKING REVELATIONS!!!!!!*

This research doesn't make me think people are dumb as much as people lie and are afraid to say 'I don't know'.

I don't get why people lie about knowing things.... :( I always tell people I don't know if I don't.. Why give someone info on something that could be wrong and hurt them.

I have a notebook I carry around with me completely devoted to questions. I am okay with the fact that I don't know a vast majority of things in the world. I think it would be ridiculous to claim I know all of these things because there's just so much in the world. Sometimes I actually find that I think I know less than I actually do. The other day I was talking to a physics teacher (I have not taken physics it was in my free time) and he asked what I knew about the Big Bang. Initially I said nothing. But then eventually when he started talking about it I was able to add what I already knew about it to the conversation. Don't get me wrong, it was stuff he already knew; no new epiphanies here, but he didn't need to teach me those basics before delving into the more complicated stuff. :)

This video is what America needs

Hey, John just learned the joys of "I don't know" recently. You guys are like brothers it's weird.

unless you have self confidence problems. I've learned to be honest as hell with shit like that. trust your gut. Now on Biased reasoning, that's why working with a team is a great idea, you can come up with Ideas, have others point out those flaws, work out those flaws, rinse, and repeat.

I'm always more than happy to admit my own lack of knowledge, but then my family and friends ask why I have low self-esteem.

Personality typing would be an interesting topic.