Is there a word for not knowing what you are doing but not knowing that you don't know?

[ginalangridge]

There is a model of Four Stages of Competence that looks like this:

1. Unconscious incompetence
2. Conscious incompetence
3. Conscious competence
4. Unconscious competence

So for driving a car, for example, stage 1 (unconscious incompetence) is when you don’t know most of the intricacies of driving a car, such as how to use the mirrors or how to use the clutch to change gear, but you don’t realise those things are there to be learned.

Then you find out how much there is to know (stage 2) and gradually aquire that knowledge and those skills. You are very careful and aware of what you are doing (stage 3).

Eventually, using the mirrors and changing gears becomes second nature and you have reached stage 4.

So using that model, not knowing that you don’t know what you’re doing would be unconscious incompetence.