The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which unskilled people make poor decisions and reach erroneous conclusions, but their incompetence denies them the metacognitive ability to recognize their mistakes. The unskilled therefore suffer from illusory superiority, rating their ability as above average, much higher than it actually is, while the highly skilled underrate their own abilities, suffering from illusory inferiority. Actual competence may weaken self-confidence, as competent individuals may falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding. As Kruger and Dunnin...

The Pauli effect is a term referring to the apparently mysterious 'anecdotal' failure of technical equipment in the presence of certain people. The term was coined using the name of the Austrian theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli. The Pauli effect is not to be confused with the Pauli exclusion principle, which is a bona fide physical phenomenon. History Since the 20th century, the work of physics research has been divided between theorists and experimentalists (see scientific method). Only a few physicists, such as Enrico Fermi, have been successful in both roles. Lacking an aptitude or ...