The “curse of knowledge” is a cognitive bias where individuals, once they know something, find it hard to imagine not knowing it. This makes it difficult for them to communicate with others who are less informed.
In 1990, Elizabeth Newton conducted an experiment known as the “tappers and listeners” study. Tappers were instructed to tap out melodies to familiar songs, then predict how many Listeners would be able to guess the song correctly.
The Tappers guessed that around 50% of the Listeners would be able to recognize the song. Only 2.5% were able to guess it.
The Tappers knew the melody, so they could hear it clearly in their tapping, which caused them to greatly overestimate how many Listeners would recognize it. Knowledge affects perception of others’ understanding.
What is the Curse of Knowledge, really?
To suffer from the Curse of Knowledge involves at least two factors: a lack of inhibitory control and fluency misattribution.
Inhibitory control is our ability to override our initial, unconscious understanding of something to manually amend it with additional information. It allows us to control our thoughts and actions, which is essential for tasks that require self-regulation and cognitive flexibility (Effectiviology).
In this case, that is our ability to ignore the information we already know in order to reason from another’s perspective. The lack of inhibitory control makes empathizing with someone else’s point-of-view incredibly difficult.
For example, if you’re tutoring a student in calculus, you might initially assume they have the same grasp on algebra and trigonometry as you do. If you find out they don’t, you’d use inhibitory control to set aside your assumptions and explain the material from their level of understanding.
Fluency misattribution is overestimating the ease with which others can understand information. Fluency misattribution can happen because of a lack of inhibitory control, or simply being in a space of ignorance. This can lead to ineffective teaching methods, patronizing or insulting the learner, and cultivating frustration on both sides.
In real life, how does this show up?
In the education sphere, teachers may struggle to convey complex topics as they assume students have some base background knowledge. This can lead to poor instruction and misunderstandings (Psychology For).
Economically, a well-informed person may make fairer offers than expected due to assuming everyone has the same information, impacting market behaviors (The Decision Lab). This can be considered a negative result (the business owner/seller lowering their profit margin) or a positive result (the consumer ultimately gets a fairer price, though the reasons are unobservable to them).
In daily life, the Curse can lead to ineffective communication and planning, like poorly written instructions, resulting in a task needing to be redone. For my life, this shows up when I give an unclear writing assignment that is crystal clear to me, and the writer drafts a 3,000 word piece that is entirely not what I wanted, meaning I have to rewrite it or reassign it. Taking a minute to consider that they’re less familiar with that particular industry than I am would have saved us all time and effort.
How does the Curse of Knowledge affect educators?
The Curse of Knowledge can affect educators and trainers negatively in multiple ways.
They might overcomplicate explanations, using complex or niche terms without realizing that the audience might not be familiar with them.
People who are unaware of the Curse of Knowledge often have difficulty teaching, because they struggle to break down information into simpler terms or steps that a beginner could understand.
They might find themselves becoming impatient with learners when they don’t grasp the information as quickly or easily as the teacher does.
How To Un-Curse Yourself
Becoming aware of the problem is sometimes all you need to fix it. But let’s look at some more specific changes we can implement to avoid the Curse of Knowledge.
1. Know Your Audience
Try to understand your audience before you even enter a teaching environment. Before beginning your lesson, you might gauge the audience’s familiarity with the topic to confirm or alter your initial assumption.
Adjust the depth and complexity of the information based on your audience’s background and present comprehension of the subject matter.
2. Simplify Language
Avoid jargon, technical terms, and acronyms. Use clear and straightforward language that would be understandable to someone with no knowledge of the subject.
If you must use specialized terms, take the time to offer simple definitions or explanations.
3. Use Analogies
Analogies can link new information to concepts the audience already understands. Relate complex ideas to familiar concepts. Be sure to use an analogy that is actually more accessible than the original idea. An example of what to avoid is my babysitter teaching me to use a vacuum when I was 5 and saying, “Pretend you’re mowing a lawn.”
4. Break Down Information
Break the information down into smaller, more manageable pieces. Be sure to arrange the information in a logical sequence, and be sure to explain each step clearly before moving on to the next. You may take the opportunity of segmented lessons to check in with your audience to be sure they understand what you’ve covered so far.
5. Assume Lack of Knowledge
When in doubt, assume they know nothing. Explain concepts clearly and avoid assuming prior knowledge.
6. Use Visual Aids
Visual aids can be super helpful for simplifying complex information to make it more accessible. Use images, videos, infographics, interpretive dance, or handouts to support and clarify your verbal explanations.
7. Check for Understanding
Summarize your key points periodically to reinforce the lesson. You might even ask the audience to explain the information back to you in their own words–this is only appropriate in certain situations, like one-on-one training.
8. Check Your Confidence
Sometimes this cognitive bias occurs when the teacher/speaker has a low sense of self-esteem. They think that if they know something, everyone must know it, because it’s hard for them to grasp that they might be more learned on a subject than others. If that sounds like you, look into it!
9. Be a Learner
And the best way to keep yourself humble and in a learner’s head is to learn yourself. Remember that no matter how much you know, there’s always more to learn. Self-teaching a new subject or skill is great, but if you really want to work on your teaching skills, becoming a student of someone else is much more effective.
Key Points
The Curse of Knowledge is a cognitive bias where we assume that others have the same level of knowledge and context that we do.
This can make instructing or teaching difficult.
Avoid this bias by:
- taking the time to know your audience
- simplifying your language
- using analogies to connect complex concepts to familiar ideas
- break the information down into a logically ordered list of smaller pieces
- assume a lack of knowledge in your audience from the jump
- use visual aids to enhance your points
- check in with your audience to ensure understanding
- make sure your bias doesn’t come from a place of low self-esteem
- and be a learner in your everyday life
If you want to know more on the subject, check out this post about delegating efficiently.
