People believe they understand how everyday things work in far more detail than they can explain.
Rozenblit and Keil asked people in 2002 to rate their understanding of zippers, flush toilets and cylinder locks, then to write out step by step how each works. The ratings fell sharply once the explanation had to be produced. The illusion was specific to explanations of how things work: people were far better calibrated about facts, procedures and stories.
In practice
- A committee confident that it understands its pension scheme cannot agree, when asked, on what happens to a member who changes employer.
- A student who nodded through a lecture on how vaccines work discovers, explaining it to a younger brother, that the lecture felt clearer than it was.
- Standing
- Compare the illusion of fluency, its study-room cousin: both mistake familiarity for understanding. Several entries lean on it, including cached thoughts.
- Subject
- Learning & Education
- Essay
- What works in learning, and what schools can and cannot change