The Curse of Knowledge

Have you ever had a teacher who was very smart but terrible at teaching? An expert who used so much jargon you could not follow their explanation? This is called the “curse of knowledge”, a term coined in 1989 by economists Colin Camerer, George Loewenstein, and Martin Weber. It’s a cognitive bias that occurs when … Read More

Levels of Thinking: How to Make Better Decisions with Second-Level Thinking

Skipping meals to save time, but finding yourself exhausted and unproductive by the afternoon. Choosing a cheaper apartment to save money, but the long commute ends up costing you time and energy. You tried to make the most sensible choice, and yet… What went wrong? It’s easy to get carried away when making a decision. … Read More

The Alchemy of Generative Questions

We all know that children are curious. Very curious. In fact, children ask more than a hundred questions an hour. This is how they explore, learn, and make sense of the world. However, researchers lament that “over the course of their education, students and adults ask fewer questions and more passively accept facts as the … Read More

The Curiosity Matrix: 9 Habits of Curious Minds

All healthy human babies and young children display curiosity, suggesting this is an innate human trait. Exploring our environment and babbling questions appear almost universal in early childhood across cultures. As an adaptive trait, curiosity draws us to seek information and new experiences. It’s how we learn about ourselves, others, and the world. However, research … Read More

The science of decision-making: why smart people do dumb things

Chocolate or vanilla? Trello or Jira? Atom or VS Code? Stay in or go out? Should I click on this link or not? We make thousands of choices everyday, often automatically, using mental models we have created over years of experience. Decision-making is the process we use to identify and choose alternatives, producing a final … Read More

The Introspection Trap

Introspection is considered an inherently human ability. While external observation allows us to understand the world around us, internal contemplation allows us to examine our own thoughts and feelings to foster self-reflection and self-discovery. The practice may be as old as humanity itself. Thousands of years ago, Plato asked: “Why should we not calmly and … Read More

Mindware: A Theory of Learnable Intelligence

For decades, the metaphor that the brain is a machine has caused some confusion. However, even if the metaphor is incorrect from a biological standpoint, viewing the mind as a machine can be useful as a heuristic for everyday decision-making. Created by a cognitive scientist at Harvard University, the concept of “mindware” builds upon the … Read More