Justin Kruger
{{Short description|American social psychologist}}
{{about|the psychologist|the ice hockey player|Justin Krueger}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Justin Kruger
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place = California, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| education = Santa Clara University (BS)
Cornell University (PhD)
| nationality = American
| other_names =
| occupation = Psychologist, professor
| field = Psychology
| thesis_title = Egocentrism in self and social judgment
| thesis_url = http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/63892270
| thesis_year = 1999
| doctoral_advisor = Thomas Gilovich
| doctoral_students =
| years_active =
| known_for = Dunning–Kruger effect
| notable_works =
}}
Justin S. Kruger is an American social psychologist and professor at the New York University Stern School of Business.{{cite web|url=http://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/static/cv/cv_jkruger_20110722.pdf|title=JUSTIN KRUGER Curriculum Vitae|last=Kruger|first=Justin|date=Spring 2011|access-date=May 3, 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~jkruger/|title=Justin Kruger: Associate Professor of Marketing|last=Cureton|first=Nadia N.|website=pages.stern.nyu.edu|access-date=2017-05-03}}
Education
Kruger received a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in psychology from Santa Clara University in 1993, and spent his junior year there at Durham University. He then received his PhD in social psychology from Cornell University in 1999.
Research
Kruger is known for co-authoring a 1999 study{{cite journal|last1=Kruger|first1=J|last2=Dunning|first2=D|title=Unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments.|journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology|date=December 1999|volume=77|issue=6|pages=1121–34|pmid=10626367|doi=10.1037/0022-3514.77.6.1121|s2cid=2109278}} with David Dunning.{{cite journal | url=https://hbr.org/2005/12/those-who-cant-dont-know-it | title=Those Who Can't, Don't Know It | journal=Harvard Business Review | date=December 2005 | access-date=25 May 2016 | author=Abrahams, Marc}}
The Dunning-Kruger effect, a cognitive bias, suggests that poor performers often overestimate their abilities, while skilled individuals tend to underestimate their abilities.{{cite web |url=https://www.structural-learning.com/post/dunning-kruger-effect |title=The Dunning-Kruger - Effect |access-date=20 April 2023 |language=en}} This study showed that people who performed in the lowest at certain tasks, such as judging humor, grammar, and logic, significantly overestimated how good they were at these tasks. This study has since given rise to what is known as the Dunning–Kruger effect, a form of cognitive bias where persons with low ability in a particular task experience a sense of illusory superiority.{{cite web | url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2012/05/revisiting-why-incompetents-think-theyre-awesome/ | title=Revisiting why incompetents think they're awesome | work=Ars Technica | date=25 May 2012 | access-date=25 May 2016 | author=Lee, Chris}} The study also found that people who performed slightly above average at identifying how funny a given joke was tended to be the most accurate at assessing how good they were at the assigned tasks, and that those who performed the best tended to think they performed only slightly above average.{{cite web | url=http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20131125-why-the-stupid-say-theyre-smart | title=The more inept you are the smarter you think you are | work=BBC Future | date=25 November 2013 | access-date=25 May 2016 | author=Stafford, Tom}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kruger, Justin}}
Category:20th-century American psychologists
Category:21st-century American psychologists
Category:Alumni of Durham University
Category:American social psychologists
Category:American people of German descent
Category:Cornell University alumni
Category:New York University Stern School of Business faculty