THE EFFECT OF EXPERIENCE ON REDUCING THE OVERCONFIDENCE EFFECT IN TEACHERS

Being overconfident in one's abilities is connected to poor self-judgment and it is essential to find ways how to reduce this phenomenon. The aim of the study was to research whether the act of taking a reading literacy test can be an effective means of reducing the overconfidence effect in the sample of Slovak teachers. Using purposive sampling method, a sample of 225 teachers from across school levels was obtained. The levels of overestimation (OE) and overplacement (OPE) effects were compared before and after having undergone the reading literacy test. The results showed that even just taking the test can reduce OE and to a lesser degree also OPE in all participants regardless of the feedback, which was in contrast to the original belief that just the experience itself does not affect overconfidence. Greater reduction in OE was observed in less competent participants, whereas none was observed among the more competent. These results showed that experience is also a form of debiasing.