Curse of knowledge
Overview
The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias in which a person who knows a piece of information finds it hard to think from the position of someone who doesn't. A well-known experiment showing this effect was reported by Elizabeth Newton of Stanford University in her 1990 doctoral dissertation.
In Newton's experiment, participants were asked to tap out the rhythm of a famous song on a table. Only a tiny number of listeners actually guessed the song, while the tappers expected far more people to get it right than actually did. The tappers hear the melody playing in their heads, but the listeners hear nothing but knocking. For people who know, the world of people who don't is hard to imagine.
The curse of knowledge in a question box
In a question box, the curse of knowledge kicks in when the person answering responds about their own field or a topic they know well. They forget that knowledge they take for granted is new information to the sender. An answer that starts with "This is pretty basic, but" and then lines up jargon is a typical case of the curse of knowledge.
On the flip side, when a sender feels "It's embarrassing to ask such a beginner question," that is the curse of knowledge in reverse. The person answering often welcomes beginner questions. Other readers may have the same question, and the answer can end up being widely read. Whether something is "basic" is a relative idea that changes with each person's level of knowledge.
How to break the curse
To break the curse of knowledge, deliberately recall "yourself before you had this knowledge." You were once a beginner too. What didn't you understand back then, and what did you struggle with? Bring those memories into your answer.
In practice, after writing an answer, check it yourself: "Would someone who knows nothing about this field understand it?" Are you using jargon, skipping background knowledge, or jumping between steps in your reasoning? An answer in a question box is not a research paper. Most readers are newcomers to the field. Be aware of the curse of knowledge and rewrite from a newcomer's point of view. That one extra step widens how far your answer reaches.