Knowing how competent we are and how our skills stack up against other people 's

is more than a self-esteem boost.

It helps us figure out when we can forge ahead on our own decisions and instincts,

and when we need, instead, to seek out advice.

But psychological research suggests that we're not very good at evaluating ourselves accurately.

In fact, we frequently overestimate our own abilities.

Researchers have a name for this phenomenon : the Dunning-Kruger effect.

This effect explains why more than a hundred studies have shown that people display illusory superiority.

We judge ourselves as better than others to a degree that violates the laws of math.

When software engineers at two companies were asked to rate their performance,

32 % of the engineers at one company and 42 % at the other put themselves in the top 5 %.