Search engines such as Google or Yahoo make people think they are smarter than they actually are because they have the world's knowledge at their fingertips. Browsing the internet for information gives people a "widely inaccurate" view of their own intelligence and could lead to over-confidence when making decisions, psychologists at Yale University have found.In a series of experiments, participants who had searched for information on the internet believed they were far more knowledgeable about a subject that those who had learned by normal routes, such as reading a book or talking to a tutor. Internet users also believed their brains were sharper."The internet is such a powerful environment - you can enter any question and you have access to the world's knowledge at your fingertips," said lead researcher Matthew Fisher, a fourth-year doctoral candidate in psychology at Yale University."It becomes easier to confuse your own knowledge with this external source. When people are truly on their own, they might be wildly inaccurate about how much they know and how dependent they are on the internet."More than 1000 students took part in a range of experiments aimed at gauging the psychological effects of searching on the internet.In one test, the internet group was given a website link that gave the answer to the question "How does a zip work?"; the control group was given a print-out of the same information.When the two groups were later asked an unrelated question - "Why are cloudy nights warmer?" - the members of the group that had searched online believed they were more knowledgeable. They were not allowed to look up the correct answer.Yale psychology professor Frank Keil said the study showed that the cognitive effects of "being in search mode" on the internet were so powerful that people still felt smarter even when their online searches failed.The growing use of smartphones might exacerbate the problem because phones make an internet search always within reach."With the internet, the lines become blurred between what you know and what you think you know," said Fisher.The researchers believe that an inflated sense of personal knowledge could be dangerous in the political realm, and in other areas in which high-stakes decisions must be made."When decisions have big consequences, it could be important for people to distinguish [between what they know and what they don't]," Fisher said."The internet is an enormous benefit in countless ways, but there might be some trade-offs that aren't immediately obvious and this might be one of them."Accurate personal knowledge is difficult to achieve, and the internet might be making it even harder." ..