Dr. Melanie Heap, a scientist at Emory Univeristy who received her PhD in immunology last year feels that she knows very little about vaccines, despite actually knowing a tremendous amount on the subject.
“I am surrounded by these people who have published 100 papers or more and know everything,” said Dr. Heap who has published only 13 papers on vaccines. “They know everything. Being around them daily reminds me of how little I know and how much I have to learn.”
Though Dr. Heap’s knowledge of immunology and infectious diseases exceeds that of almost every human being on the planet, her great underestimation of her knowledge perfectly illustrates the psychological concept known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. According to this effect, highly skilled individuals tend to underestimate their relative competence, erroneously assuming that tasks which are easy for them are also easy for others.
“We tend to think that the Dunning-Kruger effect only applies to idiot anti-vaxxers who know nothing- and I mean nothing- about immunology, yet feel they are qualified to overturn the global scientific consensus on vaccines based on a few cherry-picked articles,” psychologist Tara Duncan told The Spudd. “However, pro-vaccine people should know that the Dunning-Kruger effect applies to them as well. Many people who have made seminal discoveries in the immunology all too often feel as if they know very little.”
