The Illusion of Superiority: the Dunning-Kruger effect.

The Dunning-Kruger effect is a bias by which people reach wrong conclusions and make unfortunate choices, their incompetence robbing them of the ability to realize it. The paper is linked to, here.

It evidences an 'illusory superiority' in which uninformed individuals will rate their own ability as above average (and above average people below its actual value) and that even having been shown how wrong they are, are almost utterly unable to recognize and accept it. It shows a perverse result where people with 'less competence' will rate their ability more highly than people with relatively 'more competence'. From 'The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology', December 1999.

Kruger and Dunning showed that;

• Incompetent individuals tend to overestimate their own level of skill.
• Incompetent individuals fail to recognize genuine skill in others.
• Incompetent individuals fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy.
• If they can be trained to substantially improve their own skill level, these individuals can recognize and acknowledge their own previous lack of skill.

Daniel Ames and Lara Kammrath extended this work to 'sensitivity to others', and the subjects' perception of how sensitive they were. Some interesting related papers are available, here. It always humbles me when I read a papers from a 'real university' and reminds me of the crime and insult to academia that is called the BKWS "University".

I do not think that I have to state how this applies to the Brahma Kumaris, a religion which celebrates being ignorant, unskilled and uninformed of the real world but yet still considers itself to be the most superior religion in the world and its uneducated leaders, such as Dadk Janki, as being the top human beings of all eternity.

This video discusses their findings in a gentle and easy to follow manner.

This business of false or exaggerated claims is not a new problem. It is difficult to find a spiritual approach that does not claim to have all the answers. What I want is a spiritualitythat is realistic about the human condition. I want leaders and teachers to be honest and open about their own state, and to stop pretending they are "special" or "perfect". I am tired of the pretence. It is also emotionally exhausting and unhealthy for the teacher. Does this ring any bells?

The traditional justification was that the masses needed the stability and reassurance of an established and authoriative spirituality. This was the way to control the rabble and maintain a stable society. Freud gave us one particularly relevant and profound insight; that beneath our conscious mind and behaviour are unconscious thoughts, feelings and instincts that are really driving us. We are not really what we appear to be, what we present to the world or who we think we are. We are creatures seeking to survive, driven by primal needs. We spend energy putting on a front.

Having read some of the pain and suffering released on this site, particularly the question to do with some Sisters' suicides and cases of both sexual and emotional abuse (fingers can be pointed at some Seniors on this count - gagging the vulnerable due to both fear of how to deal with the issues and the emergence of their own experiences being triggered).

I am appalled at the level of manipulation within the "family". But then is not this just what the organisation purports to be, a "family". Having worked in social work and psychotherapy the BKs for all their preaching are very much the same as all other religions offering a "family" appeal. Using the word "student" and "University" is quite clever in sucking in the vulnerable.

Meditate within a group which you enjoy and trust . I have made sure this is what I do. Maintain your independence by keeping on the fringe of the organisation and never, never detach from your own family and friends just because the BKs say you should. And just remember, the organisation has a £25 million property portfolio - why do they require all this investment and showy projects? Where are the decent village schools and important hostels for young women? I acknowledge there is one particular B.K. who has broken her health to develop a hospital in India, but she suffered huge resistance from many of those in control.Why?

One last thing - there is a God. I knew this long before I had anything to do with the BKs. I knew also I was a soul and it is good to speak about this with those who also know they are. I did not have to go to India to be reassured of any of these things. Stay safe and in control.

Thank you for your post. Do you mean "Dr Vinay Lakshmi"?

Having worked in social work and psychotherapy, the BKs for all their preaching are very much the same as all other religions offering a "family" appeal. Using the word "student" and "University" is quite clever in sucking in the vulnerable.

Yes, and it always amazes me that despite having an international movement as big as a large city or small country - in which individuals are placed under tremendous stresses and demands - they really have no "social work" or psychotherapy departments. Of course, they have no systems of democracy or accountability either and the state of mind most followers are encouraged to stay within (child-like, addictive, dependent) is lower than that required by a functioning democracy.

Yes, too, to the con of being a university. We discussed this some time ago. In particular how it is used to disqualify any 'duty of care' that the leadership owes their following. Implicit in the leaderships position was "we have no members". This is written into their constitutions. By having "no members", they think they have no responsibility.

And yet they carry out the fraud of encouraging adherents to believe that they are actually more important or more special by being "students" instead. Or in the case of individuals like Brian Bacon when he was an BK, "leading faculty members".

All together now, "Our gurus say they are not gurus ... our gurus say we are not followers, we are students" etc.

Can you tell us if the £25 million portfolio is for the UK only or what the worldwide figure is?