Most theories predict that when people indicate that they are highly confident they are
producing their strongest responses. Hence, if such a high confidence response is in error it
should be overwritten only with great difficulty. In contrast to this prediction, we have found
that people easily correct erroneous responses to general information questions endorsed
as correct with high-confidence, so long as the correct answer is given as feedback. Three
potential explanations for this unexpected hypercorrection effect are summarized. The …