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cognition
You believe you understand how a simple zipper works.
A 2002 study showed that people consistently overestimate their grasp of complex systems until they are forced to explain them.
Participants were asked to describe how items like toilets or zippers function. Their self-assessed knowledge scores plummeted once they attempted to write out the actual mechanical steps. This illusion of depth shields us from the cognitive load of everyday reality.
You confuse familiarity with a mechanism for true understanding.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Rozenblit and Keil, 2002, Cognitive Science
- What the check found
- The cited study and the reported effect (Illusion of Explanatory Depth) are accurately attributed to Rozenblit and Keil (2002).
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.