On Jan 6, 1995, McArthur Wheeler boldly robbed two banks in broad daylight with no disguise. According to an article in a local newspaper, “At 5 feet 6 inches and about 270 pounds, bank robbery suspect McArthur Wheeler isn’t the type of person who fades into the woodwork.” He made no attempts to hide his identity and even looked directly into the security camera and smiled. By 11:00 at night, his picture was all over the news, leading an informant to identify Wheeler to the police. Within an hour, he was in jail. As he was being arrested, the shocked Wheeler said, “But I wore the juice!”
On that ill-fated day, Wheeler covered his face in lemon juice. It burned his eyes and skin, but he was confident that it would help him pull off the crime. Two friends had told him lemon juice would make him invisible to security cameras. He told the police he even tested this lemon juice theory before the robbery. He covered his face in lemon juice and took a picture of himself. He then checked the picture, and sure enough, he wasn’t in it. Wheeler probably pointed the camera in the wrong direction, or the film in the camera might have been defective.
Wheeler became the inspiration for David Dunning, a psychology professor from Cornell University. Dunning found it interesting that Wheeler had a combination of stupidity and confidence. This led Dunning and his student Justin Kruger to design tests measuring students’ ability and their perception of their ability. They found that people who are incompetent often have very high confidence. The same lack of intelligence that causes them to be incompetent also keeps them from knowing they are incompetent. This phenomenon is now known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect. The flip side is that intelligent people, because they are intelligent, are able to more clearly see when they are lacking in ability or skill. This sometimes causes intelligent people to be overcritical of themselves. That’s something to think about if you ever feel down about your English language skill. Perhaps your awareness of where you need to improve is a sign that your English is really much better than you think.
References:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/dunning-kruger-effect
https://realitysandwich.com/the-lemon-juice-syndrome-and-the-hunger-games/
On Jan 6, 1995, Wheeler robbed two banks in broad daylight. At 5 feet 6 inches and about 270 pounds, Wheeler wasn’t the type of person who fades into the woodwork. He did not hide his face and even looked directly into the security camera and smiled. By 11:00 at night, his picture was all over the news. Within an hour, he was in jail. As he was being arrested, the shocked Wheeler said, “But I wore the juice!”
On that day, Wheeler covered his face in lemon juice. It burned his eyes and skin, but he was confident that it would help him pull off the crime. Two friends had told him lemon juice would make him invisible to security cameras. He told the police he even tested the lemon juice before the robbery. He covered his face in lemon juice and took a picture of himself. He then checked the picture, and sure enough, he wasn’t in it. Wheeler probably pointed the camera in the wrong direction.
David Dunning is a professor of psychology. He thought Wheeler was interesting. He was confident and stupid. This gave Dunning and his student an idea. They made a test measuring students’ ability and their awareness of their ability. They found that people who are incompetent often are not aware of their incompetence. Instead, they have very high confidence. This is now known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect. The flip side is that intelligent people are able to see when they are lacking in ability or skill. This sometimes causes intelligent people to be overcritical of themselves. That’s something to think about if you ever feel down about your English language skill. Perhaps your awareness of where you need to improve is a sign that your English is really much better than you think.
References:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/dunning-kruger-effect
https://realitysandwich.com/the-lemon-juice-syndrome-and-the-hunger-games/
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