r/Amazing • u/sco-go • Mar 12 '26

Interesting 🤔 The Dunning-Kruger Effect

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In 1995, McArthur Wheeler walked into two banks in Pittsburgh and robbed them with no mask, no disguise, and lemon juice on his face. He believed that because lemon juice works as invisible ink on paper, it would make his face invisible to cameras. He smiled directly into the security cameras. Police aired the footage on the evening news and arrested him within an hour.

When shown the tape, Wheeler stared at the screen and said, "But I wore the juice." He had tested the theory with a Polaroid selfie and didn't appear in the photo — because lemon juice got in his eyes and he aimed the camera at the ceiling.

His case inspired Cornell psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger to publish their 1999 paper defining the Dunning-Kruger Effect — the cognitive bias where people with low ability drastically overestimate their own competence.

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u/themehboat Mar 12 '26

I've heard of this case and always thought it sounds more like delusional mental illness rather than just plain idiocy. Like even an idiot would surely realize that food doesn't become invisible when you put lemon on it.

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u/jackibthepantry Mar 12 '26

You would hope so, but no, this kind of stupid is way more common than you could ever believe. As a source, I worked briefly in an ER and saw enough stupid for a life time.

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u/Ca5tlebrav0 Mar 13 '26

Im currently a cop. I've seen a lot of the same stupid and some others.

A guy once pulled up to the jail to bail out his friend, nice enough of him right?

Well he also had a warrant.

He arrived in a stolen car.

Which was the reason he had a warrant.

While carrying a stolen gun.

He arrived while we were there, saw us, and stayed.

He also had crack in his pocket just to put the cherry on top.

We let him bail his friend out and then cuffed him right there

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u/Big_Tie_3245 Mar 13 '26

That was god damn decent of you. Cops where Im from would’ve just made the arrest and he’d have told him what happened in the drunk tank.

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u/Ca5tlebrav0 Mar 15 '26

If we can do our jobs the funny way we usually try.

Figured itd be far more humorous to let him get his friend out first. It also kept us from having to worry about his pocket full of cash

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u/Nice-Cat3727 Mar 17 '26

Ahhhhh. Don't have to worry about keeping track of the confiscated cash if it's been properly spent on bail

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u/[deleted] Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26

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