A Dialectic Method for Reducing Knowledge Overconfidence in Students

Abstract

If one of the raison d’êtres of higher education is to impart knowledge and build confidence in that knowledge, we argue that helping students calibrate their own knowledge should be considered a central task of educators. We test a method of dialectical bootstrapping, to explore whether educators can teach students simple techniques to reduce knowledge overconfidence and more accurately assess what they know. We argue that business schools could actually be incubators of knowledge overconfidence, unless students are equipped with methods of critical
thinking.