Dunning-Kruger Effect: Intuitive Errors Predict Overconfidence on the Cognitive Reflection Test.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Decision Science
• Metacognition

Background:

• The Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) measures analytical reasoning, often eliciting intuitive but incorrect responses.
• Errors on the CRT are categorized as intuitive (Type 1 processes) or non-intuitive (numeracy/reasoning deficits).
• The Dunning-Kruger Effect (DKE) is observed, where high error rates correlate with performance overestimation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the differential contribution of intuitive vs. non-intuitive errors to CRT performance overestimation.
• To examine how these error types influence metacognitive miscalibration across performance levels.
• To explore the relationship between faith in intuition and self-assessment accuracy on the CRT.

Main Methods:

• Female undergraduates completed a 7-item CRT and estimated their score.
• Participants also completed the Faith in Intuition (FI) questionnaire.
• Data were analyzed using quartile-based performance segmentation and regression.

Main Results:

• The Dunning-Kruger Effect was confirmed.
• Both intuitive and non-intuitive errors predicted miscalibration in low performers, with intuitive errors being a stronger predictor.
• Higher Faith in Intuition scores correlated with increased CRT self-estimates and miscalibration.

Conclusions:

• Poor CRT performers, especially those with a high faith in intuition, are more prone to metacognitive biases.
• Intuitive errors play a key role in the overestimation of performance for low-achieving individuals.
• Dispositional trust in intuition exacerbates self-assessment inaccuracies, suggesting susceptibility to heuristic cues like answer fluency.