Perceived versus actual autism knowledge: Participants least knowledgeable about ASD overestimated their own knowledge; those most knowledgeable underestimated it

Perceived versus actual autism knowledge in the general population. Camilla M. McMahon, Brianna Stoll, Meghan Linthicum. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Volume 71, March 2020, 101499. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2019.101499

Highlights
• Participants’ perceived ASD knowledge was not related to their actual ASD knowledge.
• Participants least knowledgeable about ASD overestimated their own knowledge.
• Participants most knowledgeable about ASD underestimated their own knowledge.

Abstract
Background In recent years, there has been a growing interest in assessing the general public’s knowledge and awareness of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). A variety of methods have been used to measure participants’ ASD knowledge, including self-report of ASD knowledge and objective assessment of ASD knowledge. The goals of the current study are twofold: (1) To determine whether there is a relationship between participants’ self-reported, perceived ASD knowledge and objectively-measured, actual ASD knowledge and (2) to examine the degree to which participants are aware of and can accurately monitor their own ASD knowledge.

Method Participants in the general population completed a subjective, self-report questionnaire on their perceived knowledge of ASD and an objective assessment measuring their actual knowledge of ASD. After completing the objective assessment, they estimated their raw score and percentile performance on the assessment.

Results Participants’ perceived knowledge of ASD was not related to their actual knowledge of ASD. Participants least knowledgeable about ASD overestimated their performance, and participants most knowledgeable about ASD underestimated their performance.

Conclusions These results suggest that perceived and actual ASD knowledge are theoretically distinct constructs, such that self-reported ASD knowledge cannot serve as a proxy variable for actual ASD knowledge. Furthermore, individuals with low ASD knowledge are often not aware of their own ignorance, such that it is unlikely that they will independently seek additional knowledge or training in this area.

Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)Autism knowledgeOverconfidenceDunning-Kruger effectUnskilled and unawareMetacognitive monitoring


Check also Participants with the lowest assessed weather knowledge do overestimate their weather knowledge, a result consistent with previous psychological studies:

What People Know About the Weather. Christopher Nunley, Kathleen Sherman-Morris. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Jan 2020. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2020/01/participants-with-lowest-assessed.html

And In self-judgment, the "best option illusion" leads to Dunning-Kruger (failure to recognize our own incompetence). In social judgment, it leads to the Cassandra quandary (failure to identify when another person’s competence exceeds our own):

The best option illusion in self and social assessment. David Dunning. Self and Identity, Apr 2018. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/04/in-self-judgment-best-option-illusion.html