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Listen to an Academic Talk Test #066
Listen to an Academic Talk
1. What is the lecture mainly about?
A) Different methods for psychological studies
B) A cognitive bias related to self-assessment
C) How to improve one's writing skills
D) The professional careers of two researchers
2. According to the professor, what is a characteristic of people with low ability?
A) They are aware of their poor performance.
B) They often seek feedback from others.
C) They tend to overestimate their competence.
D) They perform well in many other areas.
3. What can be inferred about highly competent people?
A) They are very confident in their skills.
B) They may not realize how skilled they are.
C) They are good at assessing others' abilities.
D) They avoid working with incompetent people.
4. Why does the professor mention someone who is a bad writer?
A) To give a real-world example of a concept
B) To criticize the quality of modern writing
C) To suggest a topic for a future lecture
D) To contrast a writer with a psychologist
Professor: In psychology, we study cognitive biases, which are systematic errors in thinking. One of the most interesting is the Dunning-Kruger effect. This is a bias where people with low ability in a specific area tend to overestimate their competence. The original 1999 study by Dunning and Kruger found that incompetent individuals not only performed poorly but were also unaware of their poor performance. For example, someone who is terrible at grammar might believe they are an excellent writer. Interestingly, the study also found the opposite for high-performers: they often underestimated their own ability relative to others. The main implication here is the importance of seeking external, objective feedback to gain a more accurate sense of our own skills.
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