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cognition
You cannot accurately explain how a zipper works.
The illusion of explanatory depth causes you to overestimate your understanding.
People believe they understand complex systems, such as bicycle gears or zippers, until they are asked to describe them in detail. When forced to articulate the mechanism, they realize their mental model is superficial. This bias persists across topics ranging from technology to public policy.
You know less about the world than you think.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Rozenblit and Keil, 2002
- What the check found
- Rozenblit and Keil (2002) titled their paper 'The misunderstood limits of folk science: an illusion of explanatory depth' and specifically used zippers and toilets as examples of their test subjects' overestimation.
- 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.