Illusory Superiority: People Overestimate Their Listening Skills

A Swedish psychologist asked people to rank their driving skill.

93% of the American students said they were better than average, compared to 69% of the Swedish.

Of course that’s not possible.

In the world of psychology, this is known as illusory superiority.

Studies found examples in other fields where people tend to overestimate their capabilities: health, IQ and memory.

I’m tempted to believe that most people think they are above average listeners.

Illusory superiority can have a serious effect.

Overestimating your driving ability: crashing your car.

Overestimating your listening ability: crashing your business relationship.

What % of people do you think would rank themselves as a better listener than 50% of the population?

And where do you see yourself?