Can you know that which is unknowable?

In a study, 1017 respondents were asked their opinion about the Monetary Control Bill (MCB). About 10% of the respondents tended to support the bill and about 5% of the respondents tended to oppose the bill. If they claim to support or oppose the bill, you would assume that they also know what the bill is about. However, they can't know what the bill is about since the bill is fictitious. The authors made it up just for the experiment. Essentially, respondents claimed to know about something that was fictitious. The tendency to "overclaim", or to claim to know more than you do, has been found in several studies. For example, people claim to know about fictitious topics in science and in finance. 

People tend to overclaim if they think that they are aware of the topic.  For example, one study finds that respondents are more likely to claim to be familiar with non-existent consumer brands, for which there was broad knowledge to refer to. He finds that people are likely to be familiar with a fictitious product named Yamijitsu stereos since they relied on their general impression of Japanese stereo equipment. 

People may also overclaim if they want to appear informed. In this case, people may know that they are unaware of the topic. One study finds that people who perceive themselves to be knowledgeable or have claimed to be knowledgeable are more likely to state being aware of a fictitious issue. It is likely that these "experts" are averse to acknowledging their ignorance on the topic since they want to appear informed. 

If a small proportion of people are claiming to know about things that they cannot possibly know about, then this can have implications. Policymakers who rely on public opinion should be careful in interpreting public opinion if the public tends to overclaim. 

People may also tend to overclaim due to the illusion of representative depth. Are you familiar with this illusion? You cannot be because I just made it up. 

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