Most people rate themselves above average, a bias called illusory superiority

mind & bodyWikipedia1991

Most people rate themselves above average, a bias called illusory superiority

the gist

Illusory superiority is the tendency to overestimate your own abilities and qualities relative to other people. Ask drivers whether they are better than average and most say yes, which cannot be true for everyone. The term was first used by researchers Van Yperen and Buunk in 1991. The bias appears in judgements of intelligence, task performance and personality, and it is one of several positive illusions about the self. It is often called the Lake Wobegon effect, after the fictional town where all the children are above average. The Dunning-Kruger effect is one form, seen where skill is low. Most research uses American participants, and studies in East Asia suggest the effect depends on culture, with some people there underestimating themselves to fit in.

how it works

People weigh their own successes heavily, notice others' flaws, and use vague criteria that favour their strengths. Feedback is often incomplete, so the inflated self-image rarely gets corrected. Average performance is not the same as being above average, and most people cannot be above the middle at once.

so what

It shows that self-assessment is systematically biased, which matters for hiring, learning and planning, since people who overrate themselves may stop improving.

fun fact

Lake Wobegon is the fictional town in Garrison Keillor's radio show A Prairie Home Companion.

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗