Ultracrepidarians: People Who Give Their Opinion Without Knowing Anything About The Subject
The ultracrepidarians, far from being on the verge of extinction, are more and more numerous every day. These are the people who give their opinion on everything but without having knowledge or skills on the subjects raised. They never shut up, correct us, suggest tons of things to us, want to save the world and underestimate the real experts in a field.
It is curious to see how our language is rich. We have some really special terms to define these behaviors that we see so often around us. Ultracrepidarianism is undoubtedly one of those words that is as difficult to remember as it is to pronounce. However, it is surprising to know that it has been around for a very long time and is used almost everywhere in the world.
In English, we use the word ultracrepidarianism, in Spanish, ultracrepidarianismo, in Bosnian, ultrakrepidarianizam… We have all given a name to this profile which has an almost obsessive tendency to give its opinion on subjects which it does not even control. It is obvious that we all have the right to express our opinion on any point.
However, doing it with humility and understanding that we cannot dominate all matters in life can say a lot about us. It is therefore interesting to know that the behavior of ultracrepidarians is a subject of great interest in the field of psychology. Let’s study this point in more detail.
Ultracrepidarians: who are they and why do they act this way?
If you give your opinion on the images of the far side of the moon provided by the Chinese probe Chang’e-4, the ultracrepidarians will try to give you a comment worthy of Carl Sagan. If you are discussing politics, they will do anything to give you a speech worthy of Winston Churchill. And whether you’re talking about soccer, economics, or quantum physics, they’ll always want to show you everything they know.
- Ultracrepidarians have an answer for everything. They never shut up. They are also unaware of their limitations and, even worse, do not respect others. For them, it is essential to stand out at all costs: they do not hesitate to discredit other people.
- To find the origin of this word, we must go back to the time of Apelles de Cos, a painter of the year 352 BC. JC.
- It is said that while Alexander the Great’s favorite artist was working on one of his works, a shoemaker entered his workshop to give him an order. When he saw the paintings and the engravings, he began to criticize a lot of details.
- Faced with these comments, Apelles de Cos said the following to him: “ Ne supra crepidam sutor iudicaret ” ( Let the shoemaker not judge beyond the sandal ).
The ultracrépidariens and Dunning-Kruger effect
Ultracrepidarians are generally characterized by a very basic principle: the less they know, the more they believe they know. This relationship responds to what is called the Dunning-Kruger effect in psychology.
- The Dunning-Kruger effect is a very common cognitive bias that causes people with the least cognitive and intellectual skills to tend (on average, not always) to overestimate their own abilities.
- From the point of view of social psychology and through studies such as those carried out by psychologists Marian Krak and Andreas Ortman of the University of Berlin, we are told the following. At first, ultracrepidarians may even succeed in reaching positions of power.
- There are people in our society who hold positions for which they do not have sufficient skills. However, this amplified self-assessment, coupled with an outgoing and purposeful attitude, can allow them to occupy places that other better able people cannot.
Ultracrepidarians should not be underestimated: their effect can be extremely harmful
Sometimes the behavior of ultracrepidarians can be anecdotal. The story of McArthur Wheeler, a man who robbed a bank in Pittsburgh in 1990, is famous, for example. When the police caught him, he was very surprised: he did not understand how they could see him.
He said he applied lemon juice to his face and body to be invisible. It is evident that the young Wheeler suffered from a psychological disorder, but the firmness with which he defended the relationship between lemon juice and invisibility caught the attention of experts.
Beyond these one-off cases, there is one thing we must keep in mind. Ultracrepidarians can do a lot of harm. Having a father, a mother, a chef or a neighbor who obsessively seeks to boycott our skills, to discredit each of our comments, can generate great psychological exhaustion.
The ideal is not to fall into their provocations, of course. However, if we are forced to spend a lot of time with them, we should take more drastic measures to curb their effect. Making it clear to them that their behavior is offensive and harmful is a strategy. The other would be to be more categorical and to maintain an adequate distance with this type of profiles. Let’s think about it.
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