Illusion of Explanatory Depth and Global Citizenship Identification
Skylar Parkerson, Stephen Reysen

Abstract
We examined the association between the illusion of explanatory depth and global citizenship identification. The illusion of explanatory depth is the belief that an individual has a greater depth of understanding about something than they truly do. Participants were asked to rate self-knowledge, perception of normative environment, global awareness, and global citizenship identification before and after answering and learning the answers to three sections of multiple choice items regarding global issues. Prior research exploring the illusion of explanatory depth shows that an individual’s self-rating of their knowledge declines as they find they know less than they had previously believed. The results of the present study support this body of research and further show a drop in antecedents and global citizenship identification accompanies the drop in perceived knowledge.

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