← all facts
communication
You lose the ability to teach once you learn.
The curse of knowledge describes the inability to imagine that other people do not know what you know.
In a 1990 experiment, 'tappers' were asked to tap a song on a table. They predicted 50% of listeners would guess the song correctly, but because the tappers could hear the melody in their own heads, only 2.5% of listeners succeeded.
Once you have grasped a concept, the perspective of a beginner becomes invisible to you.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Newton, 1990
- What the check found
- The definition of the curse of knowledge and the description of the 'tappers' study (by Elizabeth Newton, 1990) are accurate in the psychological literature, though the provided context material lacks this specific evidence.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.