Be(com)ing (Over)Confident? The Role of Task Experience and Gender in Attitudinal and Cognitive Overconfidence

• In Event: Feedback and Self-Evaluations of Performance

Abstract

Overconfidence, an inflated opinion of one's ability or performance (Moore & Healy, 2008; Berner & Graber, 2008), is a key challenge to organizations that rely on their professionals' judgments. To better understand - and overcome - overconfidence, it is important to consider the roots of this phenomenon. In this study we look at how task experience (e.g. Zacharakis & Shepherd, 2011), and gender (e.g. Hardies, Breesch & Branson, 2011, 2013) are related to two separate forms of overconfidence: trait and state overconfidence (Berner & Graber, 2008). We test these relationships in a professional setting using a representative task, adding to prior studies using general knowledge tasks and / or student samples (Moore & Healy, 2008).

Authors

• Therese Grohnert, Maastricht University

• Roger Meuwissen, Maastricht University

• Wim H. Gijselaers, Maastricht University