Are you a better driver than most people around you? Before you answer, take a short test. Go with your first impression.
Your own estimateYou rate yourself, quickly and by first impression. The result shows how you estimate yourself, not how good you actually are. What you enter isn't stored or sent anywhere unless you save your result yourself.
Where do you rank?
For each skill, move the slider: what percentage of adults are worse at it than you? Answer quickly – your first guess is the most interesting one.
Ninety-three percent
In 1981, psychologist Ola Svenson asked students how good they were at driving compared with others. 93% of Americans and 69% of Swedes placed themselves in the better half. But only half of people fit in the better half. A 2023 replication confirmed the effect.
The takeaway "people overestimate themselves" is only half true, though.
Juggling flips it
In 1999, Justin Kruger asked the same question about different skills. For driving, students placed themselves at the 65th percentile on average, for juggling at the 27th and for programming at the 25th. Below average en masse. A 2022 replication confirmed it.
So it's not about ego.
We judge ourselves by how easy the task feels to us, and barely think about other people. That they can't juggle either never occurs to us.
What to take from this
- For things that come naturally, you probably overrate yourself.
- For things that feel hard, you may be underrating yourself.
- Instead of "am I better than others?", ask: "what am I basing this on?"
Sources
- Svenson, O. (1981). Are we all less risky and more skillful than our fellow drivers? Acta Psychologica, 47(2), 143–148.
- Kruger, J. (1999). Lake Wobegon be gone! The "below-average effect" and the egocentric nature of comparative ability judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(2), 221–232.
- Replication of Svenson's study (2023)
- Replication of Kruger's study (2022)
