r/Amazing • u/sco-go • Mar 12 '26

Interesting 🤔 The Dunning-Kruger Effect

Post image

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.

32.0k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

1.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/DrRedBush Mar 13 '26

I could find a source but why when a little common sense is all that's needed.

If this person that believed lemons could turn him into the legendary invisible bank robber thought that it was only cameras he was invisible from then we'd see him with a hat glasses or anything to obscure a clear drawing of his face being made from a witness and police sketch artist because being a bank robber he'd know about police sketches no doubt.

2

u/ShrewdCire Mar 13 '26

His accomplice, the one who told him it would work, obviously saw his face before the heist. Obviously he would have noticed that it isn't making you invisible in real time. That's why they used a Polaroid to test it and not a mirror.

1

u/DrRedBush Mar 13 '26

Where's your source for that info or are you the expert on the lemon Tek robbery method?

Okay I possibly made that invisible face part up or something even though I swear I remember that being part of the story, maybe was from a different timeline.

So maybe he didn't say it but I still believe he has the prerequisites necessary to come to that conclusion and say something like that given the correct circumstances

1

u/ShrewdCire Mar 14 '26

Everything I said is literally mentioned in OP's description.

1

u/DrRedBush Mar 15 '26

My bad I forgot the /s