The Application of the Dunning-Kruger Effect to Perceptions of One's Own Sexism
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Amani El-Alayli
Presentation Type
Poster
Start Date
5-8-2024 9:00 AM
End Date
5-8-2024 10:45 AM
Location
PUB NCR
Primary Discipline of Presentation
Psychology
Abstract
A large proportion of the general public believes that sexism against women no longer exists in America. Despite obstacles in the workplace and other areas of modern society, this belief persists. Misconceptions about the existence of sexism may be explained by the Dunning-Kruger effect or the inability of some individuals to recognize personal deficits (such as their own sexism) due to insufficient knowledge about a topic. Specifically, more sexist individuals may be less able to identify sexism in themselves because they do not fully understand what sexism is. We hypothesized that individuals ranked among the most sexist would underestimate their levels of sexism more than others and have the least amount of knowledge about sexism. College student participants completed measures of sexist attitudes, perceptions of their own level of sexism, and knowledge of sexist attitudes. Overall, results confirmed that the more sexist participants were, the more inaccurate their self-evaluations of sexism and the lower their level of knowledge about sexism. However, knowledge of sexism was not the reason why sexism estimations were less accurate among the most sexist participants. The significance of this study is that it exposes implicit biases and provides an opportunity to recognize and correct misconceptions about sexism.
Recommended Citation
Thomason, Jenna J. and Rogozynski, Marysa K., "The Application of the Dunning-Kruger Effect to Perceptions of One's Own Sexism" (2024). 2024 Symposium. 47.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2024/ps_2024/p1_2024/47
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
The Application of the Dunning-Kruger Effect to Perceptions of One's Own Sexism
PUB NCR
A large proportion of the general public believes that sexism against women no longer exists in America. Despite obstacles in the workplace and other areas of modern society, this belief persists. Misconceptions about the existence of sexism may be explained by the Dunning-Kruger effect or the inability of some individuals to recognize personal deficits (such as their own sexism) due to insufficient knowledge about a topic. Specifically, more sexist individuals may be less able to identify sexism in themselves because they do not fully understand what sexism is. We hypothesized that individuals ranked among the most sexist would underestimate their levels of sexism more than others and have the least amount of knowledge about sexism. College student participants completed measures of sexist attitudes, perceptions of their own level of sexism, and knowledge of sexist attitudes. Overall, results confirmed that the more sexist participants were, the more inaccurate their self-evaluations of sexism and the lower their level of knowledge about sexism. However, knowledge of sexism was not the reason why sexism estimations were less accurate among the most sexist participants. The significance of this study is that it exposes implicit biases and provides an opportunity to recognize and correct misconceptions about sexism.
