Many commentators have argued that Donald Trump’s dominance in the GOP presidential race can be largely explained by ignorance; his candidacy, after all, is most popular among Republican voters without college degrees. Their expertise about current affairs is too fractured and full of holes to spot that only 9 percent of Trump’s statements are “true” or “mostly” true, according to PolitiFact, whereas 57 percent are “false” or “mostly false”—the remainder being “pants on fire” untruths. Trump himself has memorably declared: “I love the poorly educated.”
But as a psychologist who has studied human behavior—including voter behavior—for decades, I think there is something deeper going on. The problem isn’t that voters are too uninformed. It is that they don’t know just how uninformed they are.
Psychological research suggests that people, in general, suffer from what has become known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect. They have little insight about the cracks and holes in their expertise. In studies in my research lab, people with severe gaps in knowledge and expertise typically fail to recognize how little they know and how badly they perform. To sum it up, the knowledge and intelligence that are required to be good at a task are often the same qualities needed to recognize that one is not good at that task—and if one lacks such knowledge and intelligence, one remains ignorant that one is not good at that task. This includes political judgment.
We have found this pattern in logical reasoning, grammar, emotional intelligence, financial literacy, numeracy, firearm care and safety, debate skill, and college coursework. Others have found a similar lack of insight among poor chess players, unskilled medical lab technicians, medical students unsuccessfully completing an obstetrics/gynecology rotation, and people failing a test on performing CPR.
>only 9 percent of Trump’s statements are “true” or “mostly” true, according to PolitiFact >politifact into the trash
Christian Reyes
>maybe if I call them stupid they won't vote
Try something that hasn't been done already. Totally worthless shilling. Saged.
Brody Gutierrez
>Republican voters without college degrees Surely a group significantly less intelligent than Democrat voters with Gender Studies degrees.
Andrew Jenkins
meme effect. I could say the same thing about any liberals I disagree with
Kayden Garcia
Its the weekly "explanation" of why Trump is so popular episode
Jeremiah Butler
>voters are generally uninformed, don't understand their candidate's policies vote mostly with feelings/identity/shallow stereotypes but like to hink of themselves as perfectly rational and well informed.
Yeah, that's an argument against democracy maybe, or does that moron believe that Bernie/Hillary voters are any more reasonable than the average Trump supporter?
Nicholas Cook
>calls others stupid while citing Politi""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Fact""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" The author proved the Dunning-Kruger effect is real.
Thomas Sanchez
>voters are generally uninformed, don't understand their candidate's policies vote mostly with feelings/identity/shallow stereotypes but like to think of themselves as perfectly rational and well informed.
Must be talking to Hillary supporters
Robert Rogers
I think it's hilarious that a politico writer is invoking the Dunning-Kruger effect. The only people suffering from that here are "political commentators" trying to rationalize why Trump is shitting all over them.
Austin Gutierrez
>according to PolitiFact,
bullshit.
Nolan Miller
>Dunning-Kruger Effect
Literally a reddit meme for pseudointellectuals.
Camden Flores
Jesus christ this is so incredibly condescending.
>psychology, intelligence, and iq are only real when it applies to dumb white southerners!!
Luke James
based Moldova
Blake Foster
>his candidacy, after all, is most popular among Republican voters without college degrees
You forgot the part where the vast majority of college degrees are in the social sciences, which doesn't say anything about intelligence or academic achievement. If you for example go to a physics or chemistry department you will see much higher support for conservatives and even more so for libertarians.
Colton Rodriguez
as Sup Forums loves to say these days:
Not an argument
Joshua Hall
Conservatives tend to be more informed about politics than liberals when it comes to actual information.
Half of liberals probably can't even name the speaker of the house.
Jeremiah Garcia
The Dunning-Kruger effect is strong in these ones.
Jeremiah Hughes
I think it's more of the contrarian effect going on with Trump as to why he's doing do well. All Trump had to do was tap into the anti-political correctness anger that's been building in the general public for years and here we are today.
Jack Nguyen
Alternatively, people are just getting tired of politicians pandering to irrelevant majorities because they have forgotten who really owns the US.
Jordan Brooks
wow! they have wifi at refugee shelters now, ahmed?
Ryan Nguyen
This
David Brooks
What's wrong with being uninformed? Don't be a classist bigot.
Aaron Torres
That is an agument because politico and politi fact are blatantly left wing websites.
I remember a statistic was once presented on politifact that men who are transgender kill themselves more frequently and the reason it was labeled incorrect was that "transgender women are not men"
It's literally just a liberal talking points trash heap
Evan Thomas
The Dung-Kebab effect is strong in this one
Colton Bell
Oh the irony
Isaac King
>“true” or “mostly” true, according to PolitiFact >according to PolitiFact
The irony of using PolitiFact as a source in an article talking about ignorance and lack of information.
Austin Morris
Even liberal lezzer Rachel Maddow knows PolitiFact is trash.
Christopher Wood
>politifact Get fucked. The name is an oxymoron when you view their content.
Trump polls well with everyone, not just "stupid uneducated CIS white racist males without fender studies degrees".
Terrible.
Ryan Perez
>Trump supporters are dumb dumbs!!! Yeah we have seen this before.
Henry White
Nah, there is some truth to it, it is just almost always brought by the people it actually applies to. Your average moron on the street is mostly aware that he is not the brightest candle, it is the pseudo-intellectuals who bought themselves some useless degree and thinks it makes them a genius who constantly fall into that trap.
Levi Williams
>it hurts my feelings therefore its not true
i realize that dipshits like you unironically consume non-peer reviewed heritage foundation studies as irrefutable truth, so there isn't really anything i can say to change your mind. i'm sure you read breitbart as fair and balanced "news"
Caleb Thomas
>Went to Wharton >Licensed attorney >Work at top think tank in the world in my field >Support Trump
Brandon Cooper
...
Nathan Diaz
Funny story on this one: There were a decent amount of cucks who opened up their wifi so that refugees could use it.
Lots of them were slammed with lawsuits because the poor traumatized refugees used the chance to torrent the most recent movies.
Juan Gonzalez
>Republican voters without college degrees
Are they seriously saying that having a college degree these days is still a measure of intelligence?
I'd rather trust someone who learned a trade on their own or an apprenticeship than a product of modern safe-space, trigger-warning affirmative action academia.
Caleb Campbell
>projecting
Luke Morgan
In other news, Politiact is shit.
It's staffed by Penn undergrads. I was a cuck that had to work there for projects when I had com classes at Annenberg.
Jayden Kelly
Most republicans like myself take up a trade where we ironically take more maths and sciences than the democrat with a phd in theater. So I really hate the college degree meme because education is not the same thing as intelligence
Jason Long
Surely this will make Trump supporters adanbon ship.
lol, they don't know that we don't care that he is full of shit all the time. We like him for it.
>I'd rather trust someone who learned a trade on their own or an apprenticeship than a product of modern safe-space, trigger-warning affirmative action academia.
protip: academia as a whole isn't represented by memes you've been consuming on Sup Forums during your formative years.
You actually expect me to take your source literally. Get a think tank not a marxist echo chamber.
Adrian Diaz
Fuck off oregonfag, no one thinks you are important.
Jace Sanchez
>not an argument
Joshua Jones
>muh Dunning-Kruger Fuck off with this nonsense
Ayden Powell
>liberal college brainwashing isn't real
If you've been to any college in the last 10 years you would know the brainwashing is real. Even if you major in STEM they'll still make you take credits for "multicultural competence" or something
I'm more inclined to believe people who can actually think for themselves
Jaxon Perry
are you dense? i couldnt have said it any more clearer. fringe groups from the faggy pictures you save on Sup Forums != reality.
you rag on college as not being actually "intellectual" or whatever the fuck you want to call it, meanwhile falling back on "not an argument" as a cop-out. i'm sure the irony is lost on you.
Blake Wood
>PolitiFact
Brody Cruz
i graduated in 2010. of course there are plenty of lunatics on college campuses, but they are a small minority unless you attend some 1000 student cesspool like oberlin.
it's pretty clear you are just rationalizing why you are still a pathetic NEET living like a parasite in mommy's house
Brody Allen
Sup Forums largely consists of retards? STOP THE PRESSES
Christopher Rogers
Fuck Politico.
Fuck "experts"
Fuck smartass crypto-communists.
I would rather be governed by 400 random names from the phone book than by the faculty of MIT
Jace Allen
It's in local public schools as well. Not just college. Anyone saying otherwise is either an idiot or being disingenuous
Chase Bennett
>still not an argument
Samuel White
This lol.. Politifact is demonstrably biased .. They rate trumps statements as lies when it offends them
Leo Gray
Pundits still can't get it that people vote for Trump because of his policies. Anti illegal immigration, America First, Anti NAFTA/TPP policies.
Actually, some do get it, they know. But it would be against their interests to voice this. So they lie instead.
Trump has tremendous support among educated people as well. Lower than his average though because: 1. Liberal arts considered as education while in effect they are an indoctrination camp for the fascist liberal disciplines. This produces people who are counted as 'educated' for the sake as statistics while the reality could not be further from that.
2. higher educated people tend to spend more time consuming the poison that is the media propaganda machine. in effect making their decisions less educated.
Jayden Gray
seriously? how come politifact is beeing cited so much in the media, when they obviously lie all the time?
John Young
>using the heavy biased Politifact as a source
You know, I really hate that just because some people don't have a college degree, that apparently gives people who majored in gender studies or even worse, psychology, a say in what the undereducated should believe because they are "educated". Some of the highest ranked people my in my college are complete fucking morons when it comes to the way the world works. The writer of this article is no different, I bet he doesn't know the amount of which tax payers spend to let illegal immigrant stay here, nor why having a strong national identity is a good thing. There is a reason their country is shit and ours is not. He can take his Dunning-Kruger effect and shove it up his ass, he's just as uneducated as anyone else.
Carter Sanchez
OP here.
I wasn't going to post at all, but this post here just blew me away with how stupid it is.
First off, this article isn't a "source." It is essentially one psychologist's view of the matter in article form. Second, I never posted it as a "source." I posted it because I found it amusing that politico actually went there, and I thought it would be fun to see Sup Forums's reaction. Finally, think tanks are fine, but they aren't the objective source of truth that you seem to think they are. Many have agendas or are slanted in one direction or another by their funding sources.
So this post was so incredibly stupid that I simply had to break my silence to address it. Kill yourself.
Jackson Young
awww, is babby triggered that somebody invaded his "safe space"?
Nicholas Barnes
>politifact
Matthew Ortiz
Trump is great. Hopefully his rule will show the fucktards we have in the "far right"- movement way of winning and putting the nation and the people FIRST
TRUMP!
Asher Bennett
>especially not an arguement
Luis White
>b-but educated people are less educated I SWEAR
Robert Allen
>We as Democrats stand for the poor blue collar uneducated underclass who is unfairly represented in our country's political system. >LOL LOOK AT THESE TRUMP SUPPORTERS I BET THEY'RE ALL UNEDUCATED POOR PEOPLE
Austin Murphy
Wasn't there reliable UN data showing that 60-70% of the migrants were men?
This politi'fact' isn't ignorant, it's blatant lying.
>You forgot the part where the vast majority of college degrees are in the social sciences, which doesn't say anything about intelligence or academic achievement.
THIS
Jeremiah Edwards
Here's the rub. Out of the total that's true. Out of those entering Europe it's not true
David Jenkins
So basically the more you think your not affected by something, the more your actually affected? I call bullshit.
Henry Jones
>le mommy basement meme
Fuck off. I majored in chemistry and for my "cultural credits" I tried to just take philosophy and still ended up with some bull dyke telling me how none of aristotles ideas really mattered because he was a dead white male
Modern academia is a complete liberal circle jerk and anyone who doesn't see it is blind
Nicholas Sullivan
>voters without degrees in gender studies should literally not have jobs, not be allowed to vote, and starve to death, and not complain about any of it.
LITERALLY YOU
Daniel Sullivan
Yes, women studies and general degree teaches you less than learning to work as a mechanic, electrician or a plumber. Objectively a person who spent 3 years studying Chinese poetry at some meme collage is less educated then the above.
Sebastian Fisher
>le all degrees are gender studies maymay It's not even in the top 10 for women.
Degrees you personally dislike don't make them less valuable you fucking retard
Jose Foster
Not but the amount of money that can be earned with said degree makes them less valuable.
Christopher Martinez
Oh why won't we look at the stats turns out POLITICO IS WRONG
Trump and Hillary share the same % of WHITE educated people. This is the latest ABC/WoPo poll posted on RCP.
Of course Blacks and Hispanics were not included in this poll, that would show that the % of educated people supporting Hillary is lower than Trump.
Brody Lewis
>moving the goalposts
Joshua Bailey
Isn't the term 'uneducated' just a poorly used term for blue collar workers? Who are actually more realistically educated by life them the liberal progressives with an "education"?
Dylan Wilson
FLY ON HEAD
Gabriel Watson
Teaching garbage and no standards to graduate makes them so though.
Matthew Rivera
>according to PolitiFact well there's your problem right there.
Robert Sullivan
>muh anecdotal infactual """""opinion"""""
Nolan Bennett
Oh come on, you have to try harder than that.
Austin Ramirez
>(((Psychologist)))
Or, could it be that Trump is backlash for liberals and their over the top SJW shit? Sup Forums for instance is very well informed and knows that Trump is a liar and flip flopper, they know all of his scandals, policies etc. and still support him.
Colton Martinez
Electrical engineering degree requires more intelligence than women's studies. That's a fact.
But I guess for liberals nothing is fact, and everything is a spectrum.
Thomas Cook
>But I guess for liberals nothing is fact, and everything is a spectrum. Yeah, and you're on it
Christian Peterson
Nigs not only uneducated but jobless and vote Democrat but this never comes but by libshits because it goes against the narrative
Landon Myers
Not all college degrees are equal you moron. There are objective standards based on real world application or use for education. Gender Studies is useless in every facet of life so I would not call someone with a Gender Studies degree "educated." Also educated in a general sense usually means a broad range of foundational knowledge.
Luis Morris
>he graduated with a women's studies degree
Don't be mad, I'm sure you're good enough to be a secretary.
Ryder Torres
This. BA is the new high school diploma, a BA holder shouldn't count as educated. If anything, learning a trade instead of getting a shitty 3-year degree shows you have foresight and concrete plans about your future.
Jackson Brown
Do I have to clarify when I'm being sarcastic?
Blake Perez
>politifact Immediately fucking discarded
Henry Campbell
it's a lefties are intelligent not indoctrinated thread
Colton Torres
Typical women and fag shit
Oh no you don't know why you do or like X it's actually because of this thing, just trust me on this one
Asher Gutierrez
Forget it, it's just an Arab shitposting. Better he blows his load here than in a subway station.
Anthony Wilson
>People voting for Hillary only because she's a woman Perfectly fine >Dont have a masters degree, but agree with Trump Not okay.
Whatever America. Cant wait till your stupid election is over and done with. Not even Vince McMahon could come up with such retardedness as this campaign is delivering daily.
