Here’s Why You Know More Than You Can Explain or Write Down
The Khan Academy did a video where they asked random people in the streets what the Internet is, a question to which almost all gave some ridiculous answers —confidently.
A young girl said it is the WiFi because, according to her, "no WiFi, no internet", and a grown-up said, "it is like plumbing, it’s always moving".
The phenomenon this tries to prove is that we most times possess untested knowledge about things, which may turn out to be incomplete or outrightly wrong. This is called The Illusion Of Explanatory Depth (IOED for short).
The Illusion Of Explanatory Depth
The term IOED was coined by Leonid Rozenblit and Frank Keil in 2002, stating: "Most people feel they understand the world with far greater detail, coherence, and depth when they really don’t".
The two were able to prove this oddity through multiple multiphase studies.
In the first phase, Rozenblit and Keil asked participants to rank how well they understood fabrications such as a cell phone, crossbow, or a sowing machine; and in the second phase asked the participants to put down a well-detailed explanation of how each fabrication works. Afterward, the participants were finally asked to re-rank how well they understand each one.
