deepstash
Beta
The Curse of Knowledge: What It Is and How to Account for It
Being an expert
The curse of knowledge is about the difficulty in communication that people have when they know something that others don’t, and not just about the difficulty experts have.
This bias can play a role in any situation where one person recognizes something that other people don’t, and then account for it accordingly.
137 SAVES
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
5
Key Ideas
The bandwagon effect
It's a cognitive bias that causes people to think or act in a certain manner because they believe that other people are doing the same.
For example, the bandwagon effect might cause...
Examples of the bandwagon effect
- The bandwagon effect can influence people’s political choices.
- It can influence consumers’ decisions regarding which products to buy.
- It can influence users’ decisions regarding how to rate stories or comments.
- It can influence investors’ financial choices.
- It can influence doctors’ medical decisions.
- It can influence organizations’ implementation of new technologies.
Why the bandwagon effect happens
It serves as a mental shortcut that people instinctively use in order to make a decision quickly.
Specifically, bandwagon cues, which are signs that other people believe something or are doing something, can trigger the thought that “if other people like this, then I should too”.
4
Key Ideas
The Just-World Hypothesis
Is a cognitive bias that causes us to assume that people’s actions always lead to fair consequences, meaning that those who do good are eventually rewarded, while those who do evil are eventually p...
Why poeple believe is a just world
- Belief in a just world can serve as motivation for making long-term efforts.
- Belief in a just world can serve as a coping mechanism for everyday struggles.
- Belief in a just world can help people cope with existential issues, by providing them with a sense of purpose.
- Belief in a just world can help people feel in control, because they believe their future will be determined by their actions.
Factors influencing the Just World bias
- Various background factors, such as religion and ethnicity, can affect the likelihood that people will display just-world beliefs, and the degree to which they will display them.
- Various situational factors can also affect the degree to which people believe in a just world. For example, being in a good mood reduces people’s tendency to blame innocent victims, while being in a bad mood increases this tendency.
5
Key Ideas
The egocentric bias
It is a cognitive bias that causes people to rely too much on their own point of view when they examine or remember events in their life.
This means that people tend to either underest...
Examples of the egocentric bias
- When you are giving a public talk, you assume that your nervousness is more apparent to others than is actually the case.
- You overestimate the amount of work that you contributed to a group project.
- You might believe that your colleagues all share your political beliefs and social values.
- You might remember yourself as having been the key player in a past event, despite the fact that you only played a relatively minor role in it.
What causes the egocentric bias
It occurs primarily due to the fact that we tend to naturally examine and remember events primarily through our personal point of view.
Even when we realize that we should adjust our perspective to see things through other people’s eyes, we tend to anchor this new perspective to our own, and we often fail to adjust from our original viewpoint enough to properly assess how other people feel.