According to a 1999 study performed by Justin Kruger and David Dunning, incompetent people think that they are actually much smarter than they really are (in a narcissistic moment, the pair termed this the Kruger-Dunning Effect). The illustrious duo came to this conclusion after designing tests which measured one’s abilities in the areas of logic, grammar, and humor, then asking participants to estimate how well they ranked. They found that the incompetent people thought themselves much smarter, while the truly smart people often undersold themselves.

The hypothesis that they tested were:

1. incompetent individuals tend to overestimate their own level of skill,
2. incompetent individuals fail to recognize genuine skill in others,
3. incompetent individuals fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy,
4. if they can be trained to substantially improve their own skill level, these individuals can recognize and acknowledge their own previous lack of skill.

So pause and think before you go bragging about how great you are – you might actually be telling the world that you’re an idiot. Of course if that’s the case, you can go train yourself to be smarter… there there now, that’s a good little monkey!