McArthur Wheeler's Infamous Bank Robbery and the Birth of the Dunning–Kruger Effect

In 1995, McArthur Wheeler, a 44-year-old man from Pittsburgh, carried out a bizarre bank robbery that would later become famous for its psychological implications. Believing that lemon juice could render him invisible, Wheeler smeared it on his face before robbing two banks. He did not wear a mask and even looked directly at security cameras. When the police arrested him later that night, Wheeler was shocked to find that he had been captured on camera, insisting, “But I wore the juice.” His belief was based on a misunderstanding of chemistry: lemon juice can act as invisible ink, only visible when heated, not as a way to evade cameras. Wheeler’s attempt to test this theory with a Polaroid selfie failed because he photographed the ceiling instead, which he interpreted as proof that the juice worked. The incident caught the attention of psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger at Cornell University. They studied how Wheeler’s extreme overconfidence, despite his incompetence, exemplified a cognitive bias now known as the Dunning–Kruger Effect. This effect highlights how individuals with limited knowledge or skill in a task can vastly overestimate their own abilities. Wheeler’s unusual crime, while humorous on the surface, played a significant role in advancing psychological research and understanding human cognition.

Magdeburger Attentäter sollte 2013 in Psychiatrie eingewiesen werden - Hubu.de - News & FreeMail

Das Rechtsmedizinische Institut der Universität Rostock hat bereits am 23. Mai 2013 die "sofortige Einweisung" des Magdeburger Attentäters in eine psychiatrische Klinik empfohlen.

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Problematic Smartphone Use Leads to Behavioral and Cognitive Self-Control Deficits

Excessive use of smartphones has been associated with a number of negative consequences for individuals. Some of these consequences relate to many symptoms of behavioral addiction. The present study aims to investigate whether participants with high levels of smartphone usage may have difficulty with their ability to wield the self-control that is needed to restrict smartphone usage compared to participants with lower levels of smartphone addiction. Specifically, we expect that people with high levels of smartphone usage may have problems in refraining from using a smartphone. In addition, we expect people with a high level of smartphone use may show deficiencies in cognitive tasks such as memory, executive control, and visual and auditory attention. An ABA design was applied to analyze the effects of smartphone withdrawal. The first A refers to baseline measurements: Visual RT, Auditory RT, Go/No-Go RT and N-Back RT and Eriksen flanker RT. The B refers to 3 days of smartphone withdrawal, whereas the second A refers to the same measurements used in the baseline. In addition, several standardized scales were administered, among them: Smartphone addiction scale-short version (SAS-SV), Fear of missing out scale (FoMOs), Procrastination scale, and Psychological General Well-Being Index. One hundred and eleven participants took part in the study. Based on median split they were divided into two groups: high level and low level smartphone users. Moreover, thanks to an app installed on the participants’ smartphones, it was possible to measure levels of compliance with the task. Results indicate that participants with low levels of smartphone usage show less difficulty in their ability to wield the self-control needed to withdraw smartphone use and faster reaction times on cognitive tests than participants with high levels of smartphone usage. Moreover, the profile of participants with high levels of smartphone usage shows higher scores on the FoMOs and Procrastination scale, and lower scores in the Psychological General Well-Being Index. The results are discussed in light of self-regulation theory.

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