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Concept

regression to the mean

A dark, curved shape resembling a bell curve is depicted against a gradient background, symbolizing the concept of regression to the mean.

The statistical tendency for extreme measurements to be followed by more average ones, simply because extreme values tend to contain more noise. Identified by Francis Galton in the nineteenth century and rediscovered in nearly every field that handles repeated measures, it produces patterns that look like real effects — including, critics argue, much of the Dunning-Kruger curve.

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