I watched the early rounds of American Idol this year, and was struck by how many people think they are good singers, so good that they have a chance in the American Idol competition. But in many cases the people who hear them sing think they are so bad that they laugh about it.
It makes me wonder: How could people’s self-evaluation be so bad? How could they think they are excellent, when they are really terrible?
Singing is one of those fields where there isn’t a lot of objective evaluation in our daily lives, unless you are a professional. And if your friends think you are bad at it, you will rarely get that feedback, out of politeness.
Then it made me wonder: What other fields are like this? What else do people do where they think they are world-class, but might actually be very bad?
The first one that comes to my mind is driving. I’ve heard surveys that found that most people think they are above average drivers. In some ways it is a lot like singing — there is little direct feedback on your skill, and even in cases where there is feedback (honking horns, tailgaters trying to push you to go faster) it can be passed off as the other guy’s rudeness, impatience or the other’s poor driving habits. Traffic tickets and accidents do help mark the worst offenders, but even in those cases they can blame it on the other guy, or “the speed limit was too low for the conditions” etc.
People probably have a more accurate evaluation of their math ability, because of objective feedback in high-school classes and tests. But conversely, writing ability is much more subjective and poor grades are easier to blame on the grader, as biased or unimaginative.
And right up there near the top when listing inaccurate self-evaluations must be political and economic astuteness. Many people are passionate about their political beliefs, and their ideas of the best way to move forward in an uncertain economy. “Fewer laws, less government control!” “More regulations of the out-of-control banking industry!” “It’s obvious that the wealthy should pay more taxes to help the poor!” “If I’ve earned this money I should be able to keep it — it’s not my fault if those poor people were playing while I was working to get ahead!” “More Stimulus!” “Less Stimulus!” The only feedback we get on these ideas is listening to other people’s ideas, and we usually filter out those we disagree with.
What’s right? Based on watching American Idol, I’m sure there are many people out there passionately convinced that they know what’s right, but their beliefs are based on poorly thought-out positions. They all think they are political/economic experts, but their self-evaluation is in many cases as poor as the tone-deaf screecher hoping to be the next American Idol.
