The Curse of Knowledge

Over the past few weeks at my new job I've thought about this concept - the curse of knowledge.  I first read about this idea in a book called Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath during my first year of the MBA program.  I want to share an excerpt with you that explains what I'm talking about....and why it applies to me right now.

In 1990, Elizabeth Newton earned a Ph.D. in psychology at Stanford by studying a simple game in which she assigned people to one of two roles: "tappers" or "listeners."  Tappers received a list of twenty-five well-known songs, such as "Happy Birthday to You" and "The Star Spangled Banner."  Each tapper was asked to pick a song and tap out the rhythm to a listener (by knocking on a table).  The listener's job was to guess the song, based on the rhythm being tapped. 


The listener's job in this game is quite difficult.  Over the course of Newton's experiment, 120 songs were tapped out.  Listeners guessed only 2.5 percent of the songs: 3 out of 120.


But here's what made the result worthy of a dissertation on psychology.  Before the listeners guessed the name of the song, Newton asked the tappers to predict the odds that the listeners would guess correctly.  They predicted that the odds were 50 percent.


The tappers got their message across 1 time in 40, but they thought they were getting their message across 1 time in 2. Why?


When a tapper taps, she is hearing the song in her head.  Go ahead and try it for yourself - tap out "The Star Spangled Banner."  It's impossible to avoid hearing the tune in your head.  Meanwhile, the listeners can't hear that tune - all they can hear is a bunch of disconnected taps, like a kind of bizarre Morse Code.


In the experiment, tappers are flabbergasted at how hard the listeners seem to be working to pick up the tune.  Isn't the song obvious?  The tappers' expressions, when a listener guesses "Happy Birthday to You" for "The Star Spangled Banner," are priceless:  How could you be so stupid?


It's hard to be a tapper.  The problem is that tappers have been given knowledge (the song title) that makes it impossible for them to imagine what it's like to lack that knowledge.  When they're tapping, they can't imagine what it's like for the listeners to hear isolated taps rather than a song.  This is the Curse of Knowledge.  Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it was like not to know it.  Our knowledge has "cursed" us.  And because we can't readily re-create our listeners' state of mind.  (Made to Stick, pages 19-20)


This small excerpt from the book PERFECTLY describes what I have been going through the past few weeks at work.  I am a "listener" for sure and sometimes I cannot for the life of me figure out what tune the "tappers" have in their heads.  Since there is no formal training process I will be learning by trial and error, and asking a lot of questions.  I suppose experience is the best teacher and I have learned a lot in just three weeks, but I am barely scratching the surface...I'll check back with you on this in a year!


Funny story from today:  I sit in an area by the Executive Assistant for one of the Vice Presidents.  After I was through with a phone call this morning she came over to introduce herself to me, then proceeded to tell me that she can hear every word I say, which means that I can hear every word she says so would I make sure to keep anything I hear confidential.  Then she says I was not supposed to be sitting where I sit, but...anyway.  Nice introduction, eh?  I just shrugged it off and talked to my manager about it.  I wanted to make sure that if I really was not supposed to be sitting there that I got moved!  He explained her personality and background to me, so it's fine.  I just thought it was funny because I have not heard one conversation that she's had and I rarely have taken calls at my desk.  Personally, I think she was annoyed that I was laughing and having a good time so early in the morning!