Curse of Knowledge

Overview

Camerer, Loewenstein & Weber (1989, JPE): once you know something, you cannot accurately simulate the mind of someone who doesn't — better-informed traders couldn't ignore their extra information even when profit depended on it. Elizabeth Newton (1990): "tappers" tapping songs predicted listeners would name the tune ~50% of the time; actual rate: 2.5%. The tapper hears the melody in their head; the listener hears knocking.

Your design/docs/API are the taps. You hear the melody. The user hears knocking — and you cannot hear the knocking anymore.

When to Use

• Writing documentation, READMEs, error messages, commit messages, tutorials
• Designing APIs, CLIs, onboarding flows, empty states
• "It's self-explanatory" / "users will figure it out" / "the name makes it obvious"
• Expert reviewing beginner-facing material (worst-case pairing)

The Procedure