Michael Kardas, a post-doctoral fellow in management and marketing at Northwestern University, US, asked participants to watch repeated videos of various skills, such as throwing darts or doing the moonwalk dance, up to 20 times. They then had to estimate their abilities, before trying the task for themselves. Most participants assumed that simply observing the film clips would have helped them to learn the skills. And the more they watched the films, the greater their initial confidence.
