Dynamic overconfidence: a growth curve and cross lagged analysis of accuracy, confidence, overestimation and their relations

2021. Thinking & Reasoning. Vol. 27:3, Pp. 417-444, DOI: 10.1080/13546783.2020.1837241

Arturo Rodriguez P, Alejandro Hirmas, Tomás Reyes, Edgar Kausel E, Francisco Carrasco

Abstract:

Research has paid little attention to how overconfidence evolves over time. We examined how task experience (experience within a task using a sequence of items) and outcome feedback affected accuracy, confidence and overconfidence in experiments over several trials. We conducted five studies involving 614 participants and used growth curve modelling and cross-lagged analyses. Findings revealed that mere task experience (without feedback) reduced overestimation linearly. Task experience coupled with feedback reduced overconfidence quadratically; the decreasing rate was initially strong but faded away over time. The decrease in overestimation was explained due to accuracy increasing at a faster rate than confidence did. Accuracy had lagged effects on confidence; a correct estimate led to more confidence in a subsequent estimate. We also found some evidence indicating that confidence had a negative lagged influence on accuracy. This dynamic influence between accuracy and confidence is a unique finding in the overconfidence literature.

Palabras claves: Judgment and decision making, overconfidence, growth curve modelling, cross-lagged analyses.

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