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0 pointsTyrannosaurs12y ago0 comments

Yes, the idea that almost everyone considers themselves to be a better than average driver.

I've always wondered with that whether the problem is with the question. What it's really checking is whether someone will admit to being worse than average, which is a very different thing to thinking you're worse than average.

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ZeroGravitas12y ago

In "thinking fast and slow", I'm sure the author gave an example of something people will all admit to being below average at.

Googling it, the example given is "starting conversations with strangers" and his theory is that people ignore the question they are asked ("how they compare with average") because it's hard/impossible to actually answer, and instead, without realising it, substitute an easy question ("are you good at x") and answer that instead.

TyrannosaursOP12y ago

That's interesting. I have Thinking Fast and Slow as an audiobook I've not yet got round to listening to.

Does he talk about other theories? I wonder if there's also an element of what the person has tied up in that skill and what the consequences of being bad at it are?

Certainly it seems unlikely that anyone would want to admit to being bad at their job (kind of tantamount to admitting to be a fraud), or at something which, as with driving, can be actively dangerous if you're bad at it.

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