Illusory superiority (also called the Lake Wobegon effect or above-average effect) is the tendency to overestimate one's own qualities and abilities relative to others.

The Statistics That Can't Be True

• 93% of US drivers rate themselves as above average
• 70% of high school students rate themselves as above average in leadership ability
• 85% of professors rated themselves as above average teachers

By definition, only 50% of any group can be above average.

Domain Dependency

Illusory superiority is strongest in easy-to-perform, hard-to-objectively-measure domains (driving, social skills, judgment) and weakest in hard tasks with clear metrics.

The Dunning-Kruger Connection

Illusory superiority overlaps with Dunning-Kruger but is distinct: Dunning-Kruger is specifically about skill-knowledge gaps; illusory superiority is a broader above-average comparison bias.

Structural Fix

Replace self-comparison with objective metrics wherever possible. "I think I'm a good writer" is much less useful than "My articles get X opens and Y shares."

Reference:

Wikipedia: Illusory Superiority

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusory_superiority