On January 6, 1995, McArthur Wheeler and Clifton Earl Johnson robbed two Greater Pittsburgh banks at gunpoint without attempts to disguise themselves.
The robberies directly inspired the research of the Dunning–Kruger effect, which describes that people with little ability in a given field erroneously believe they excel in it.
On January 6, 1995, McArthur Wheeler[a] and Clifton Earl Johnson robbed two banks in the Greater Pittsburgh area at gunpoint.
[1][5][6] Although initially skeptical, Wheeler had tested this method by covering his face with lemon juice and capturing an image of it with a Polaroid camera.
David Dunning, a professor of social psychology at Cornell University, discovered this story and subsequently a longer article about the case in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
[3][8] R. Lofton Hudson, a pastor and psychologist, argued that Wheeler exhibited a "lack of relational awareness" that normally was found in all humans.
"[9] In motivational literature, There Is an I in Team: What Elite Athletes and Coaches Really Know About High Performance features Wheeler as an example of the importance of critical and accurate self-examination.