Curse of Knowledge
A cognitive bias concept first proposed by economists Colin Camerer and colleagues in 1989. It describes the phenomenon whereby once a person has acquired a piece of knowledge, they find it nearly impossible to accurately reconstruct what it was like not to possess that knowledge. The bias broadly affects communication contexts such as teaching, documentation writing, and product design.
Timeline (last 90 days)
People who write documentation tend to automatically fill in missing steps due to their familiarity with the project, making the documentation appear complete while new users cannot follow it smoothly.
The 'curse of knowledge' was first named in an experiment by economists Colin Camerer, George Loewenstein, and Martin Weber in 1989.
In the classic experiment of tapping the rhythm of a song, tappers estimated a 50% probability that listeners would guess the song title, while the actual rate was only 2.5%.
Practical methods for overcoming the curse of knowledge include conducting a cognitive walkthrough of the target audience, listing all prior assumptions, and adopting a building-block structure that confirms each block is understood before moving on.
Textbooks written by students more easily identify beginner pain points, as the authors have just gone through the learning curve themselves, making the language and entry points more attuned to learning difficulties.
The author reflects that the hardest part of an open-source project is not the code but writing clear documentation, which is related to the "curse of knowledge" phenomenon in cognitive science.
All Facts (6)
People who write documentation tend to automatically fill in missing steps due to their familiarity with the project, making the documentation appear complete while new users cannot follow it smoothly.
50%UnverifiedThe 'curse of knowledge' was first named in an experiment by economists Colin Camerer, George Loewenstein, and Martin Weber in 1989.
50%UnverifiedIn the classic experiment of tapping the rhythm of a song, tappers estimated a 50% probability that listeners would guess the song title, while the actual rate was only 2.5%.
50%UnverifiedPractical methods for overcoming the curse of knowledge include conducting a cognitive walkthrough of the target audience, listing all prior assumptions, and adopting a building-block structure that confirms each block is understood before moving on.
50%UnverifiedTextbooks written by students more easily identify beginner pain points, as the authors have just gone through the learning curve themselves, making the language and entry points more attuned to learning difficulties.
50%UnverifiedThe author reflects that the hardest part of an open-source project is not the code but writing clear documentation, which is related to the "curse of knowledge" phenomenon in cognitive science.
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