We are what we are - the Lake Wobegon Effect

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The Lake Wobegon effect(1) is the human tendency to overestimate one's achievements and capabilities in relation to others. It is named after the fictional town of Lake Wobegon from the radio series A Prairie Home Companion, where, according to Garrison Keillor, "all the women are beautiful, all the men strong, and all the children intelligent"(2). Keillor’s 1985 novel Lake Wobegon Days describes life in the fictional town situated in the US state of Minnesota. According to Keillor, Lake Wobegon is the seat of Mist County, Minnesota(3), a tiny county near the geographic center of Minnesota that supposedly does not appear on maps because of the "incompetence of surveyors who mapped out the state in the 19th century". The town's slogan is Gateway to Central Minnesota(4). The town’s motto is mentioned on its crest – sumos quud sumos – we are what we are(5).

In a similar way, a large majority of people claim to be above average; this phenomenon has been observed by researchers among drivers, CEOs, stock market analysts, college students, and state education officials, among others. Experiments and surveys have repeatedly shown that most people believe that they possess attributes that are better or more desirable than average.

Surveying drivers, Ole Svenson(6) found that 80% of respondents rated themselves in the top 30% of all drivers. Asking college students about their popularity, Zuckerman and Jost(7)showed that most students judged themselves to be "more popular than average".

In 1987, John Cannell(8) completed a study later popularized as the Lake Woebegone effect. He reported the statistically impossible finding that all the US states claimed average student test scores above the national norm. In addition to teaching for the test, he concluded that some teachers encouraged low-ability students to be absent on test days, helped students take the test and allowed outright cheating.

The effect has been found repeatedly by many other studies for other traits, including fairness, virtuosity, luck, and investing ability, to name a few. Don’t we all claim to be always right? Let’s introspect.

References:
1. http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Lake_Wobegon_effect
2. Devangshu Datta, Looking good in comparison, VIEWPOINT, Business
Standard,Kolkata, November 7, 2009, page 15
3. Garrison Keillor, Lake Wobegon Days, Viking Penguin Inc.,1985,pg.8.
4. Garrison Keillor, In Search of Lake Wobegon, National Geographic
Magazine, December 2000.
5. Garrison Keillor, Lake Wobegon Days, Viking Penguin Inc.,1985,pg. 6.
6. Svenson, O. (1981), Are we all less risky and more skillful than our
fellow drivers?, Acta Psychologica, 47, 143-48.
7. Zuckerman, E. W., & Jost, J. T. (2001), What Makes You Think You're So
Popular? Self Evaluation Maintenance and the Subjective Side of the
Friendship Paradox, Social Psychology Quarterly, 64(3), 207-223.
8. Sheila C. McCowan, Using standardized test scores to compare schools is
unfair, Buffalo News, July 21, 1999.

Comments

Avanish Dubey said…
well sir after reading the article it was really difficult for me to judge whether or not i really belong to the class which will understand this article (i mean the article says that i assume myself better than most of the crowd which may not be proven wrong but still remains a assumption )....did not get what i said ...never mind ...great article and gud to know this effect ...[:)]
November 9, 2009 at 7:50 AM
D.Anand said…
An excellent article. In my opinion, people indeed are highly capable and intelligent. It is the environment that surrounds them right through childhood, adolescence, adult and old age that keeps on changing their peformance or reactions to situations. Their potential to excel never shrinks. Only the right sparks can ignite and are necessary to bring out their full potential. Eg. If you look around at your shool mates or collegemates, you can easily find people who were marked less intelligent then others being more successful currently. Thus, I conclude that people are indeed highly capable. It is the varying exposure that makes the difference.
November 9, 2009 at 1:05 PM
Unknown said…
This one is so difficult to comment on - it's like a Catch 22 situation.

Here we are in the twenty first century which celebrates narcissism, self aggrandizement, all self help books telling you to Believe in Yourself. No wonder then, everybody is in the race to prove themselves better than average, otherwise you will be left by the wayside. Woebetide anybody who is stupid enough to accept, "I am only average".

On the other hand, there is another school of thought that says in order to be truly happy in life, you have to learn to accept your limitations and be satisfied with who and what you are, or you will suffer from depression, stress, nervous breakdown, relationship crises and the likes, and so..... what does an average confused person like me do? Stress self out at work trying to prove, "I am above average", stress kids and spouse out at home trying to prove, "they are above average" and then attend "Art of Living" and "vipassana" courses twice a year to prove, "I am so grounded."
Just kidding, of course.

P.S.: I felt for a while, after reading the article that Lake Woebegone isn't really all that fictional.....I saw mcuh of our own Bhilai in it...just kidding, of course. Woebetide me if any diehard Bhilaian reads this! I'll keep my fingers crossed.
November 10, 2009 at 5:30 PM
Saurabh Sinha said…
Like Bonya, I too thought about writing a story titled LAKE WOBEGON IS IN BHILAI. We all searched for the most beautiful girl to marry, who believes his 'man' is strong, and both strive to see their kids top the class.
November 10, 2009 at 8:42 PM
Saurabh Sinha said…
Yogesh Shastri, who has commented to earlier posts on "manedge" called up this morning and we discussed various issues including the phenomena mentioned in this blog.
December 2, 2009 at 3:12 PM
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