Why is Learning a Little Dangerous?

    Everyone has been in a situation before where we quickly read through a news article, a chapter of a book, or an email filled with importantly crucial information. Whether it’s because we forgot about an assignment, we didn’t have time, or we didn’t truly value the information, but can that be classified as dangerous? A little learning can be classified in this case as meaning that the reader doesn’t have a full understanding or scope of a concept. So how is this dangerous? Not knowing the full scope of the concept that the reading, chapter, or email is trying to portray may lead to lack of understanding which can lead to mistakes when trying to relay that information to others at say a book club, team meeting, or in a discussion post. 

It comes down to having limited knowledge and the detriment that having limited knowledge on something that you are trying to share with others. To put this into context, if someone is hired as a nutritionist, the hope is that they have explicit knowledge of nutrition, not that they skimmed through everything and have limited, spotty knowledge on what good nutrition looks like. Another example would be going to a doctors office for a broken arm and the doctor not having a full understanding of the signs and symptoms of a broken arm and prescribing you Tami-flu for the Flu virus. This would cause a great detriment to your arm and your belief in the medical field. It is important that doctors, nutritionists, teachers, and everyone else has more than just a “little learning”. 

So why is a little learning a bad thing? Having limited knowledge not only causes the potential for harm as depicted in the situation above but it can also cause lack of knowledge and misinformation when sharing with colleagues or peers. It can also cause issues with being overly confident, especially if considered a beginning in the field (Sanchez & Dunning, 2018). This could lead to filling in information that you’re unsure of with other information that you feel is correct but isn’t. This could cause further issues of being overly confident, spreading misinformation, and causing harm to those around you (Vitelli, 2017).

Overall, learning is a powerful tool that everyone should continually do. However, it is important to admit that you are still learning or that you shouldn’t be considered an “expert” when it comes to the concepts in question. From there, continue to learn, talk to others that are considered experts in the field, and continue education.

References:

Sanchez, C., & Dunning, D. (2018). Overconfidence among beginners: Is a little learning a dangerous thing? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114(1), 10–28. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000102

Vitelli, R. (2017, November 13). Is a little knowledge really a dangerous thing?. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/media-spotlight/201711/is-a-little-knowledge-really-a-dangerous-thing