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Department of Educational Sciences and Psychology

New article in Contemporary Educational Psychology published

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Logo des CEP neben dem Porträt von Pascal Alscher vor grauen Hintergrund
The article deals with the unskilled and unaware effect in the context of political knowledge among high school students.

The publication “When will they know what they don’t know? Political knowledge and the infamous “Unskilled and Unaware” effect” by Pascal Alscher, Ulrich Ludewig, Ruben Kleinkorres, and Nele McElvany investigates the presence of the unskilled and unaware effect, also known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, among high school students in relation to their political knowledge. The study explores whether this cognitive bias differs between 7th and 10th grade and examines how teachers' behaviors – specifically cognitively activating and motivating teaching – impact students' judgment accuracy and direction. The findings reveal that the unskilled and unaware effect is evident in both grades. Additionally, visual and statistical analyses indicate a similar pattern across grade levels. The researchers also discover that the perceived motivational quality correlates with both judgment accuracy and overconfidence, while the perceived cognitive activation shows a negative association with judgment accuracy. By employing a two-cohort approach, this study introduces a novel perspective on the unskilled and unaware effect, offering significant implications for future research as well as valuable insights into educational practices within civic education.

Read now: Open access article