The Downing effect is the tendency for people with below-average intelligence to overestimate their own IQ, and for people with above-average intelligence to underestimate their own IQ, so that self-estimates cluster closer to the middle than actual scores do. It is named for the researcher C. L. Downing, whose cross-cultural studies also found that a person's ability to accurately judge other people's intelligence is itself related to that person's own intelligence, so people with lower intelligence are less able to accurately judge the intelligence of others as well as their own.
Facts
Classification
Type of Phenomenon Type of PhenomenonSocial or Interpersonal Phenomenon 1 Core ClaimThe tendency of people with a below-average IQ to overestimate their IQ, and of people with an above-average IQ to underestimate their IQ. 1 Sources
1. Downing effect, Wikipedia
IQ section
This describes the tendency of people with a below-average IQ to overestimate their IQ, and of people with an above-average IQ to underestimate their IQ
lead section, phenomenon-kind classification
In social psychology, illusory superiority is a cognitive bias wherein people overestimate their own qualities and abilities compared to others.
lead section, phenomenon-kind classification, additional value cognitive
In social psychology, illusory superiority is a cognitive bias wherein people overestimate their own qualities and abilities compared to others.
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