Partisan YouTube use and evaluation of knowledge in Korea and the United States: a fresh perspective via the Dunning–Kruger effect

Abstract

This study investigates how partisan YouTube use can paint biased evaluations of one’s own as well as others’ knowledge. Understanding of these relationships is enriched by a fresh theoretical perspective via the Dunning–Kruger effect, suggesting that people, especially those who perform poorly, tend to overestimate their own competence. Using South Korea and the United States as two different contexts, we also attend to how cultures moderate these relationships. Findings based on two independent surveys in these countries shed light on the role of partisan YouTube use in shaping people’s hyperbolic self-evaluations and contrasted assessments of in- and out-group members. Furthermore, these trends are more pronounced among those with relatively a low level of actual knowledge. Finally, using partisan YouTube for news is strongly associated with group-based evaluations of knowledge in Korea, whereas it yields significant relationships only with self-evaluations of knowledge in the United States.