I learned about this in college, but have since forgotten over the decades. An example is an anthropologist who has learned about a tribe but has never actually visited and studied the tribe first hand.
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Are you simply asking for the term for who one who falsely believes oneself to be an expert? The reference to 'first-hand experience' confuses the matter, because in highly theoretical fields it may not be obvious what would constitute first-hand experience.– jsw29Commented Jan 3, 2020 at 17:41
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Probly self-confidence. At least, that's what many people believe it means.– John LawlerCommented Jan 3, 2020 at 17:46
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Such a person would be called book smart, but I'm not sure that's what you're looking for.– Mr ListerCommented Jan 3, 2020 at 19:18
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@jsw I don't think the term implies any sort of Dunning-Kruger effect, it just differentiates a person who doesn't have experience in the topic they have learned. Basically, it is a technical term similar to armchair expert per my comment to Nuclear Wang– pooter03Commented Jan 6, 2020 at 16:46
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O.K., so you are looking for a term for somebody who does have some relevant knowledge, but the knowledge is all of the kind that is acquired in a classroom or a library, rather than in the field. That probably needs to be more explicitly stated in the question, to make it clear that it is not a duplicate of the listed ones. Mr. Lister's book smart seems to capture the concept, but it looks like you are looking for something more formal.– jsw29Commented Jan 6, 2020 at 17:02
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2 Answers
This person could be described as an armchair expert, or an armchair X, where X is some occupation (e.g. armchair detective, armchair anthropologist). They may be well-versed in a topic, having studied many books from the comfort of their armchair, but they have little to no practical experience in the field they're studying. They might sound knowledgeable about a subject, but it's entirely possible that their knowledge has little to no bearing on the real world, as it is entirely untested in a practical application.
answered Jan 3, 2020 at 18:44
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It basically means the same thing as armchair expert, but the word itself was technical/academic and not a colloquialism.– pooter03Commented Jan 6, 2020 at 16:41
You're possibly thinking of the Dunning-Kruger effect by which people who lack competence in some area are thus unable to judge their own level of competence and often over-estimate it.
As far as I know, there is no single word for this.
answered Jan 3, 2020 at 17:32
