The Dunning-Kruger effect

Part of the myriad of reasons people are resistent to science is the Dunning-Kruger effect. At Pro-Science Kristjan Wager explains the concept, and links to the original article that gave us the term.

Update: On a related note,  Ed Brayton discusses a new, and unusual, interpretation of cognitive dissonance theory. Watching the Deniers discusses an article in Political Behaviour that:

clearly demonstrates the fact that people will cling desperately to a misconception despite overwhelming evidence that contradicts that belief.

He refers to climategate as the example "par excellence" of what the article clarifies. This resembles my conclusion the anti-science crowd is suffering from some form of delusional disorder.

Update II: The effect stands for the notion that the least knowledgeable individuals feel they are the best qualified to opine on a certain topic. This because they lack the ability, as a result of insufficient training, to recognise the flaws in their conclusions.