I sure found this very very interesting. According to the Dunning-Kruger effect (named after the people who discovered it), people who are incompetent at subject X tend to drastically overestimate their competence. Check out the audio piece about it from Australia.
And vice-versa, those who are most competent tend to under-estimate the other way.
Further, the only way for people to realize their incompetence is to see it in the rear view mirror after gaining actual education in subject X. ‘And not, you see, by simply being shown a lousy test score. That doesn’t cut it.
Hmm. Four fingers pointing back, right? So join me:
“I think I’m above average in the subjects that I actually suck at.”
Longshot City 
June 7, 2010 at 2:09 am
I prefer the contrapostive
“I think I suck at subjects that I’m actually awesome at.”
The trick is distinguising those from the subjects that I legitimately think I suck at.
Cheers,
Carl C-M
June 12, 2010 at 10:23 pm
What foolishness, I am fantastic at everything, well everything I continue to attempt after the learning phase is complete. On the flip side, there are things I cannot do well at all, and I avoid them like tight white trousers paired with navy granny panties.
Seriously, most humans simply live an unexamined life.
June 18, 2010 at 10:55 pm
This reminds me of what my old friend, Carol, used to call “a fool with a fact.” We see it all the time, don’t we? Usually a guy who thinks he has a great/new/revolutionary idea or “point” to make and he holds onto it and cherishes it. Carol said it was like a pebble he kept in his pocket. He’d feel it and fondle it and from time to time he’d pull it out and admire it again. Often, he’d show it to others, smugly. He wanted to be thought of as a wise man. When, after all, he was just “a fool with a fact.”