There is something called the Dunning–Kruger effect. It is when people of low ability inaccurately believe their ability is greater than it is. Here’s a short TED animation video about it:
I think this phenomenon in which incompetent people think they are more knowledgeable than they really are explains the behavior of some such as the troll attacking our series refuting Bible contradictions which I responded to in “Mr. Hodge’s Dodge from Proving a Bible Contradiction.” That particular individual would assert I need to learn Greek and Hebrew while he himself doesn’t know Greek and Hebrew and somehow he failed to see my posts regularly deal with the Greek and Hebrew when it is relevant.
Although it won’t be easy to deal with an incompetent person who think they are amazing yet what can a Christian apologist do in dealing with such individuals? Here are six principles to keep in mind.
- Be gentle and respectful. Its my experience that such a person can take any attitude that is not respectful as a sign that your position is weak. Don’t forget also that as Christians we must defend our faith in a manner that pleases the Lord in how we conduct ourselves as a witness to unbelievers. True gentleness and respect with a “know-it-all” personality requires humility. If you are not humble the other person will know it; now you are fueling their pride which makes that person less willing to see his shortcoming or wiling to admit it to you. Plus you don’t want the discussion to become nothing more than a shouting match.
- Inform them of the Dunning–Kruger effect. Let them know that incompetent people sometimes think their abilities are more superior than they really are. For example let’s say someone is talking about textual criticism and the Bible has been changed. Yet they don’t know anything about the field of textual criticism and they are saying all kinds of stuff that’s unfounded. Send them a link to Wikipedia about the Dunning–Kruger effect. Or give them a link to the Youtube video to TED-ED. Or send them the actual articles and studies on the Dunning–Kruger effect. The intent of letting them know about the Dunning–Kruger effect is to let them know they can be wrong.
- Ask them to prove what they are saying. Point out any extreme confidence they have and asked what makes them think they really know this is the case. In a scenario in which someone thinks they are superior than you, play on that by saying since they think they are that much intellectually superior than you you have decided to ask them more questions instead.
- Ask them to provided sources for their claims. This is similar to point three except the emphasis here is that you want to ask for some sort of reputable source for what their saying. The intent of asking them for sources is to see if they are familiar with the literature of the field they are pontificating about and also to probe for both you and the person to know if they really have done their homework and research.
- Be alert of exposing logical fallacies. As a Christian one should learn well the laws of logic and clear thinking. There are good books on logic out there both by Christians and non-Christians. Pointing out logical fallacies committed during the conversation is a quick and direct way of questioning the person’s competence in their reasoning. A few months ago I had some professor challenged me at our evangelism table who taught on a subject not related to the Bible, theology, philosophy or science but somehow he thought just because he was a professor he is smart and that must include fields outside of his specialization. I look far younger than my age and sometimes that’s a liability since the guy kept saying he’s older and what does a young kid like me know about anything and he felt justified to cut me off and talk over me. So eventually I let him have his desired monologue; until he gives enough rope to hang himself. Then I point out the logical fallacies he’s committed in his reasoning. Others walking by start listening in and some even started laughing. As his monologue continues I keep on pointing out logical fallacies he’s committing. I also make a point to keep on reminding him of the fallacies he’s committed earlier. The intent here is to make it very clear how he’s incompetent in his argumentation in a specific area he’s thought of himself more informed and reasonable than he really is.
- Pray for them. There’s a spiritual dimension to all of this. Go to God in prayer, for God to convict, reveal, regenerate, illuminate, help, etc. Pray also for wisdom for yourself in handling the individual but also for you to know more about the subject of discussion. We don’t want to be the very person we are dealing with: uniformed and yet having a greatly exaggerated sense of one’s knowledge and ability.
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Humility makes a huge difference. I’ve engaged in discussions where humility and gentleness made all the difference. People are often stopped in their tracks when you are simultaneously level-headed, logical, and loving. Great reminders!
Thanks for sharing that Elihu! I love how you said the following: “People are often stopped in their tracks when you are simultaneously level-headed, logical, and loving” I love it because of the alliteration. Would you mind if I use that alliteration in my own personal life and teaching?
Absolutely! 😊
this is great Jim—a more direct post to exactly what I addressed today about the same troubling issue–meeting those who troll with hospitality…
I’m always a half-day or day behind with catching up with my blog reading on my blog reader, I’m looking forward to reading it Julie sometime today.
Never a rush Jim— just an echo of your thoughts ☺️
Oh goodness…My mind went to politics. LOL
LOL. How are you doing our dear precious sister Beverly?
WellI have just come from a visitation for a friends mother who passed away….Tomorrow my dad is going on hospics (sp) we aren’t sure why and my mother is possibly loosing stayhome …But our Lord is going to get me theough this little challenge.
I just prayed for you friend who lost her mother, you father’s health, and your mother’s living situation. Please keep me posted sister.
I hope that I know my limitations. I have a good grasp of how much theology I don’t know. I do know how to research any topic. I do know who are my betters. I take short cuts. When the new perspective on Paul came out my pastor read 3 books on the topic. I went to 7 reliable sites such as yours. It took me 1 hour or less to know it was garbage. It took my pastor 4 weeks to reach the same conclusion. Why reinvint the wheel. I can see sufficiently well standing on shoulders of giants, as the saying goes. Theology and logic are 2 sides of the same coin. Yet there are times when imitating Jesus in Matt. 23 becomes necessary.
Matthew 23 is especially relevant with false teachers which I know you are aware of but sadly when people call out false teachers those individuals are called unloving and unchristian which is ironic isn’t it?
Or…You can ask to pray for them. That runs them off every time. 🙂
lol. Man Patrick I love you brother!
lol…It’s just me being me.
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
Thanks for the reblog
Excellent advice for a situation that is all too common. My father was fond of the phrase “delusions of adequacy.” J.
Love that quote from your father! Your dad was identifying the Dunning–Kruger effect before it was called the Dunning–Kruger effect in social science. There’s nothing new under the sun is there?
Good reminder to not take a haughty attitude when discussing the Gospel. I don’t wish to take this way off topic but this Dunning–Kruger effect is interesting to me on several levels. As a pre-teen, I stunk as an athlete. When my teen growth spurt hit, I got a little better at athletics, but not by much. But in my mind, I thought the coaches were crazy and I was one of the best athletes on the field. Hey, in the big picture, people also think they’re good and moral!
I was blown away after hearing about the Dunning–Kruger effect; and how there are so many ways this manifest itself as your example of athletics showed indicated. Of course my first thought was about apologetics hence this post. I was also thinking of how this can be seen in reality TV shows such as American Idol as well…we all have probably seen a contestant that is the least able think he’s the next big thing but he’s not even close. He might be singing “turn turn turn” and thinks he’s performing it better than the Byrds…
RE: He might be singing “turn turn turn” and thinks he’s performing it better than the Byrds
LOL! It’s amazing how we as fallen humans are always prone to paint ourselves in the best possible light.
Reblogged this on Lee Duigon.
And don’t we run into this all the time! The Bible Answer Man, I’m not. I have a terrible problem with keeping my temper when called upon to defend Christianity in an argument with some high school Charlie atheist–as I’m sure you noticed, the last time I tried. I need to work on that.
P.S.–I really liked the picture of a guy demonstrating O-Goshi, the very first judo throw I learned. Really impressed my friends!
First off thank you for reblogging this post!
Secondly concerning atheists trolling on WordPress, I love your description of them as “high school Charlie atheist” which are hard to deal with because they think know so much.
Wow that throw is called an O-Goshi? I didn’t know what it was called back when I was in the Marines since I have been out for some years now but I wouldn’t be surprised that it is what you called it since the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program is a blend of various martial arts. Nice to know and never knew you practiced Judo before, that would be a neat post to write on your blog sometimes Lee.
I was a hot number on the Rutgers judo team, and the only trophy I ever won was for a judo championship. Boy, that was a long time ago!
I learned O-Goshi out of a paperback book, and couldn’t wait to try it on my friends (we wrassled a lot).
I’ll have to think of what I might be able to say about it.
P.S.–A few of my brothers in Christ have told me I should try to be more winsome. But when I do winsome, the overall effect is grotesque.
Strange. My problem has always been building my confidence up. Don’t get me wrong, I agree with this article, but it’s hard to imagine being overly sure of myself. I don’t know how some folks manage to do that.
It’s wonderful you brought that up. From what I read of the Dunning–Kruger effect there is also a second reverse phenomenon: Those who know more tend to know enough also to not be so naive and hence they are also cautious in being so sure. I guess that means you are in company RG2Cents! Better being in your category than the category I talked about in my post, right?
Yeah, but I have to make a confession. I did have a problem with arrogance in the past. I think it was a result of my struggle with lack of confidence. My ‘know it all’ attitude covered up my feelings of inadequacy. Needless to say I still got knocked off my high horse. Do you think this may be the case in some folks which appear to be suffering from the Dunning -Kruger effect? Not all, but maybe some?
I think what you described is what God did in my own life as well, so I say yes. And I’m grateful for God doing so
Good stuff. I can learn a lot from this
Thanks Wally for reading this and for your comment, I hope you are having a pleasant day at work (though I imagine its long and filled with much work!).
It has been. Thanks! As pleasant as any day in our money grubbing culture can be LOL.
Very interesting!
Thanks I hope it would be helpful to God’s people as we evangelize making use of the time we have!
Amén ! Totally agree
[…] 1.) Apologetics Tactics handling the least competent who overrate their skill […]
I just read a review of Roma Downey’s book, ” Box Of Butterflies “. The book is blatant heresy cover to cover. What is worse is the list of the highly educated well known and trusted cream of the crop Christian pastors and teachers and leaders that endorse it.. I would have to list these among those who think themselves wise when they are really fools. At her web page she has a long list of names a veritable who’s who list singing its praises. Not surprisingly the list also includes a host of mindfulness new age false teachers. Dr. David Jeremiah the current president of the SBC and to no ones surprise Rick Warren to name a few Their endorsement will cause millions to stumble off the narrow path and tumble on to the broad road that leads to destruction.
When it comes to boldly defending the faith irrespective of genuine humility, anyone who takes an unmovable stance on the Gospel on sound doctrine on the Bible itself will be seen as anything but humble.