The Curse of Knowledge |
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What is it?
The bias of someone assuming that the people they are speaking to have the background knowledge to understand what is being said.
Why it occurs:
We assume that people around us are similar to us, that they have the same information as we do and therefore should know the same things that we know. It’s hard to look at a situation from someone else’s perspective and forget the knowledge that you already possess - after all, we only have one mind.
Where might you see it occur in real life?
If you think about it for even half a second, it sounds straightforward: of course there will be people out there in the world who don’t have the same background knowledge that we do on a range of topics. It has to be that way. But it doesn’t stop us from making the mistake of assuming it.
We see it everywhere:
Why is it important?
This state of mind, in which the person can’t empathise with others who don’t possess the knowledge he does, causes frustration and/or disengagement in a relationship or worse, in wider society, in which the informed cannot ‘reconstruct the perceptions of lesser informed’ individuals.
What is the impact in business?
Let’s look at a two examples:
Overcoming the Curse of Knowledge means being disciplined enough to tell the full story: set the scene, discuss why it’s important, look at objectives, think about the impact on your audience and their background and assumptions. Just because you know why you are saying the words that you are, it doesn’t mean anybody else does.
Want to know more? Check out the rest of our Cognitive Bias Stack or connect with us directly.
The bias of someone assuming that the people they are speaking to have the background knowledge to understand what is being said.
Why it occurs:
We assume that people around us are similar to us, that they have the same information as we do and therefore should know the same things that we know. It’s hard to look at a situation from someone else’s perspective and forget the knowledge that you already possess - after all, we only have one mind.
Where might you see it occur in real life?
If you think about it for even half a second, it sounds straightforward: of course there will be people out there in the world who don’t have the same background knowledge that we do on a range of topics. It has to be that way. But it doesn’t stop us from making the mistake of assuming it.
We see it everywhere:
- It leads to governments failing to explain their policies properly, implementing laws and presenting data that the general population cannot fathom
- In the UK, prior to the Brexit vote in 2016, it was said that people had “had enough of experts.” This was perhaps a prime backlash to the Curse of Knowledge
- It leads to teachers at all levels structuring learning around a starting point they define, rather than what has been verified by the students themselves
- And it leads to the friction we see around a Christmas game of charades: “how can you not understand what I am doing?!”
Why is it important?
This state of mind, in which the person can’t empathise with others who don’t possess the knowledge he does, causes frustration and/or disengagement in a relationship or worse, in wider society, in which the informed cannot ‘reconstruct the perceptions of lesser informed’ individuals.
What is the impact in business?
Let’s look at a two examples:
- Senior management does not fully explain the reasoning behind a project, or the objectives and strategy, to those tasked with execution - not because they didn’t feel the need to, but because they assumed the rest of the team already knew. Do you think that might tie into low employee engagement scores?
- Someone is trying to pitch a product, service or idea to a potential customer (or anyone else for that matter - partners, investors, friends, family), but the pitch is not going well because they “just don’t get it” - probably because the starting point wasn’t one of zero-knowledge. I’ve delivered countless pitches where my customer has been kind enough to say “can we take a step back please”, which is bad, but not terrible. The terrible ones are where they say nothing, smile and nod, switch off and then the deal goes nowhere.
Overcoming the Curse of Knowledge means being disciplined enough to tell the full story: set the scene, discuss why it’s important, look at objectives, think about the impact on your audience and their background and assumptions. Just because you know why you are saying the words that you are, it doesn’t mean anybody else does.
Want to know more? Check out the rest of our Cognitive Bias Stack or connect with us directly.