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On January 6, 1995, a bizarre Pittsburgh bank robbery later became one of the most famous examples of human overconfidence and faulty thinking.
News18
In the early morning of January 6, 1995, MacArthur Wheeler committed two armed robberies at two different banks near Pittsburgh. Despite not using any disguise to hide his face during the robbery, MacArthur was caught by the bank’s security camera. Interestingly, the police were more surprised by the rationale behind Wheeler’s actions than by his audacious crimes. According to sources, Wheeler thought he would become invisible if he put lemon juice on his face.
According to an article on Medium.com, MacArthur Wheeler used lemon juice to cover his face during robberies.
Wheeler is said to have believed that lemon juice could make him invisible because it worked similarly to invisible ink, which cannot be seen but becomes visible when heated. However, when shown video footage showing Wheeler committing the crime, Wheeler appeared confused, authorities said.
Authorities quickly tracked down Wheeler after the images were broadcast on television.
People recognized him almost immediately, which led police straight to the culprit.
It later turned out that Wheeler’s theory had been tested previously.
From sources linked to the case, it is believed that he took a photo of himself using a Polaroid camera after putting lemon juice on himself and was convinced that the photo did not appear, as he believed that the process would not be recorded on the camera as well.
Theft will subsequently gain importance not only within the scope of the criminal investigation.
David Dunning and Justin Krueger, psychologists from Cornell University who study human judgment and self-awareness, are said to have come across this condition when they studied human overconfidence and incompetence. This case would later become part of studies into how humans become overconfident in what they know.
Their findings later gained international recognition as the “Dunning-Kruger effect.”
Psychological theory involves humans with little competence at certain tasks who fail to recognize their incompetence while considering themselves sufficiently competent.
Wheeler’s failed attempt at robbery would become the most famous case to support the theory.
The story was later used in research in psychology, in documentaries, and in writing that discussed human behavior and overconfidence.
The crime that occurred in Pittsburgh in 1995 is still considered one of the strangest criminal incidents of modern times.
What started as an attempted bank robbery using lemonade led to it becoming part of the most famous psychological theories about overconfidence and human error.
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