Shy to admit that you don’t know something?

The so-called Dunning-Kurger Effect (a cognitive bias whereby some people who know a lot about how to do a task underestimate their knowledge) suggests that when we say “we don’t know” something, it means that we are well aware of what we know and what we don’t know about the subject. Those who belong to this group of people generally do not stop at “I don’t know”. Instead, they go further and try to plug the gap in their knowledge – and this is definitely a good thing.

“For leaders, a powerful antidote is simply acknowledging that you don’t know.”

The above quotation was made by David Burkus, Associate Professor of Leadership and Innovation at Oral Roberts University. According to him, acknowledging “you don’t know” will lead to curiosity and motivation to find the correct answer. To put it another way, you will be led towards the way of learning new things.

When you admit openly that “you don’t know” the answer to a question, your curiosity to find out about the subject grows. Your curiosity leads you to ask further questions about the subject or to do some research on the subject. As you ask further questions and you investigate the topic more fully, your learning grows enormously.  Your brain is working on the subject to find out new answers and solutions. You become engaged and enthusiastic about the subject. In this way, you are learning new things and also cultivating your mind and body as you try to find an answer or solution.

Another article which sees “I don’t know” in a positive way is ‘The power of I don’t know” written by Heather Wolpert-Gawron (Wolpert-Gawron, 2014). As an educator, she says that it is okay for students to say “I don’t know”, but we still need to teach our students how to develop their own questions: that way, stating “I don’t know” can help overcome students’ confusion. She cultivated the habits of searching for solutions in her students by challenging them, asking questions and teaching them internet literacy to hunt for answers. When she hears her students say “I don’t know”, she treats it in a very intelligent way as “Wait! Let me find out”.