I’m an extreme non-credentialist – what about you?

February 28, 2024

I'm an extreme (>99th percentile) non-credentialist. Does that mean if I find out someone has a nutrition Ph.D., then I don't think they know more about nutrition than most random people? Of course not. Credentials are evidence of what someone knows (e.g., having a nutrition Ph.D. is evidence that you have nutrition knowledge). But part of what makes me an extreme non-credentialist is that if I spend an hour watching someone with a nutrition Ph.D. debate a completely self-taught person, a...

Are you a “credentialist” or “non-credentialist”?

July 21, 2017

Are you a "credentialist" or "non-credentialist"? Here's a test I designed so that you can find out. After noticing a number of times that people's feelings about formal credentials can differ dramatically and that this seems to impact their views on certain important topics, I've been working on defining a "credentialist" trait (or attitude). In a nutshell, the non-credentialist/credentialist spectrum, as I'm defining it, captures how important a person thinks formal credentials are, as ...