Overconfidence and Laziness

Randall walked into a status meeting certain that he knew everything that was going to be said. As he sat through the meeting only half listening to his colleagues tossing ideas around, his boss began asking him questions that he was unprepared to answer. Although confident individuals usually understand information better than their less confident peers (Clark, 1989), many people overestimate their abilities to retain and recall information. Thus, over confidence like Randall’s frequently leads to laziness—failure to prepare or plan for a situation and then failure to pay attention during it.