We’ve all been in situations where we struggle when someone doesn’t understand something. Usually we take a breath and utter (either aloud or to ourselves) “let me see how I can make this clearer.” ...

When is too much knowledge a bad thing? According to Harvard Business blogger Scott D. Anthony, when it causes you to assume that other people know what you do. Referring to such mindsets as the ...

I had an interesting experience with a startup. I ran into what is called “The Curse of Knowledge.” The curse is defined as a cognitive bias that occurs when an individual, communicating with other ...

The internet is a wonderful thing: it allows anyone with a thought and a keyboard to become a writer. Unfortunately, it also means there's a lot of bad writing out there—most of which, says Steven ...

Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Let’s establish something right off the bat: Knowing things is the worst. I’m not referring to ...

Assessing what other people know and believe is critical for accurately understanding human action. Young children find it difficult to reason about false beliefs (i.e., beliefs that conflict with ...

The curse of knowledge applies to more than just copy. It can also come up in face-to-face meetings—sales pitches, conferences talks, account reviews, etc. If you overestimate the knowledge of the ...

I’ve always demanded spoilers for what I watch, but I understand that most people like to go into films unspoiled. It’s odd then, that the curse of knowledge makes spoilers for the most important ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I'm a customer experience consultant and customer service trainer. When you get lost way out in the boondocks, the worst person to ...

You might have played it yourself: Tap out the rhythm of a popular song and see if your listeners can name it. Like the subjects in the Stanford experiment, I thought it would be easy for the kids to ...