Exploring How People Evaluate Expertise
Stav Atir | Unveiling Blind Spots in Self-Evaluation | Wisconsin School of Business
In the News
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Harvard Business Review
Research: Competent Leaders Know The Limits of Their Expertise
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Psychology Today
The Unexpected Upside of Talking to Strangers
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The New York Times
Small Talk Has Big Benefits
About Stav
Professor Atir’s research examines how people evaluate – and misevaluate – their own expertise and learning. She also explores how people evaluate others’ expertise, especially in the context of gender, and how gender bias can affect professional outcomes.
Professor Atir earned her B.Sc. in Psychology at Yale University, and her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Cornell University.
Selected Published Journal Articles
Atir, S. & Rosenzweig, E. & Dunning, D. (2025). When do people claim to know the unknowable? The impact of informational context on overclaiming Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
Atir, S. & Risen, J. (2025). The paradox of explaining: When feeling unknowledgeable prevents learners from engaging in effective learning strategies. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
Atir, S. & Rosenzweig, E. & Dunning, D. (2024). Does expertise protect against overclaiming false knowledge? Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
Prabhakaran, V. & Mostafazadeh Davani, A. & Ferguson, M. & Atir, S. (2023). Distinguishing Address vs. Reference Mentions of Personal Names in Text Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2023
Atir, S. & Zhao, X. & Echelbarger, M. (2023). Talking to strangers: Intention, competence, and opportunity Current Opinion in Psychology
Atir, S. (2022). Girlboss? Highlighting versus downplaying gender through language Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Atir, S. & Wald, K. & Epley, N. (2022). Talking with strangers is surprisingly informative Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Epley, N. & Kardas, M. & Zhao, X. & Atir, S. & Schroeder, J. (2022). Undersociality: miscalibrated social cognition can inhibit social connection Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Swallow, K. & Atir, S. (2019). The role of value in the attentional boost effect Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Atir, S. & Ferguson, M. (2018). How gender determines the way we speak about professionals Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Atir, S. & Rosenzweig, E. & Dunning, D. (2015). When knowledge knows no bounds: Self-perceived expertise predicts claiming of impossible knowledge Psychological Science
Popular Media
- Do You Use Somebody’s First Name or Last Name? The Answer Speaks Volumes., Wall Street Journal (2018).
- How (and why) you should get better at talking to strangers, Fast Company (2022).
- Small Talk Has Big Benefits, The New York Times (2023).
- Here’s more evidence you should always be wary of ‘experts’, Business Insider (2015).
- Girlboss or businessperson? Should we highlight or downplay gender in our language?, Cosmos Magazine (2022).
- Skeptics Say, ‘Do Your Own Research.’ It’s Not That Simple., The New York Times (2022).
- The Unexpected Upside of Talking to Strangers, Psychology Today (2023).
- Male scientists are far more likely to be referred to by their last names, impacting status and awards, Science Magazine (2018).
- Why Your Social Life Is Not What It Should Be, The New York Times (2022).
- Talking to strangers helps with learning, Advanced Science News (2022).
- Self-proclaimed ‘experts’ more likely to fall for made-up facts, study finds, The Washington Post (2015).
- Self-Proclaimed Experts Often Claim To Know More Than They Really Do, Gizmodo (2015).
- We are all confident idiots, Pacific Standard (2017).
- Eliminating a key difference in how people refer to men and women could help even the playing field at work, Business Insider (2019).
- Study Shows Professional Women Are Less Likely To Achieve ‘Last Name Fame’, Forbes India (2018).
- The Way We Identify Professionals Disadvantages Women, Pacific Standard (2018).
- Calling men by their surname gives them an unfair career boost, New Scientist (2018).
- Research: Competent Leaders Know The Limits of Their Expertise, Harvard Business Review (2024).
WSB Stories
- WSB Scholars Awarded Competitive Grants To Explore the Intersections of Business and Diversity Science - September 5, 2024
- Shaping the Future of Business Through Academic Research - September 3, 2024
- ‘Girlboss:’ A Conversation with WSB’s Stav Atir on Language and Gender - June 1, 2023
- New WSB Faculty Define What’s Next in Business - November 11, 2021
WSB Stories
WSB Scholars Awarded Competitive Grants To Explore the Intersections of Business and Diversity Science
Shaping the Future of Business Through Academic Research
‘Girlboss:’ A Conversation with WSB’s Stav Atir on Language and Gender
Meet More Management and Human Resources Faculty
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