The Curse of Knowledge: Why experts lose their audience and how to keep yours

Think your message is crystal clear? Think again: the curse of knowledge could be blurring it.

Ever been in the middle of a presentation and realized people look totally lost? You keep thinking, “But this is so simple…why don’t they get it?”

Once we learn something and become familiar with it, such as how vaccines work, what DNA stands for, or how to use a simple lab tool, we often assume that everyone else possesses the same knowledge.

Why do we assume others know what we know?

Elizabeth Newton was a graduate student at Stanford University when she designed an experiment to explore whether students overestimate how well others understand them. In her study, one group, called “tappers,” tapped out the rhythm of well-known songs with their fingers, while another group attempted to guess the song based only on the taps.

The “tappers” estimated that about half of the listeners would guess correctly. The real result? She found that only 2.5% of listeners got it right, far lower than the tappers’ 50% estimate. Listeners recognized only 3 of the 120 songs (2.5%, or 1 in 40), while tappers had predicted they’d get half.

Economists Colin Camerer, George Loewenstein, and Martin Weber examined this issue in detail in 1989. Through a series of experiments where participants had to predict how others would answer simple questions, they found that those with more knowledge consistently overestimated what others knew. They called this phenomenon the Curse of Knowledge.

These findings raise two important questions for science communicators: Why do we assume our audiences already know the details we know? And when they don’t, why does explaining even simple ideas often feel so challenging, leading us to skip basics, use jargon, or move too fast?

The curse of knowledge explains why not everyone gets it

The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias that occurs when someone becomes deeply familiar with a topic and can no longer imagine what it’s like not to know it. As a result, we often assume that others understand more than they do.

For us as science communicators, the curse of knowledge can seriously affect how effectively we engage with our audience. Because we assume others share our knowledge, we often skip essential context, rely on jargon that feels “basic” to us, or rush through explanations. This oversight can leave readers or listeners feeling lost or disconnected, whether it’s a researcher sharing data without providing background information or a blog post filled with technical terms that assume readers already know about the topic, ultimately risking both engagement and trust.

The curse of knowledge can affect anyone. Readers can feel confused or isolated when writers fail to clarify challenging information.

How can we bridge the gap between knowing and explaining?

Bridging the gap between knowing and explaining begins with understanding and strengthens with practice. It’s like building a solid structure: each step depends on the one before it, and every piece supports the next. Let’s see how we can do it: 

1. Identify the knowledge gap

We can start by asking ourselves, “What does my audience likely already know about the topic?” Consider the audience’s background and goals, and compare them with your own. But don’t rely on your assumptions alone. Instead, listen, observe, and engage. Pay attention to how your audience talks about the subject. What words do they use? Where do they seem confused or disengaged? These clues can help you pinpoint the gap more accurately.

2. Simplify, don’t dumb down

Once you’ve identified the gap, meet your audience where they are. Use simple examples, relatable analogies, or visual tools to bring the idea to life. And remember: avoid jargon, abbreviations, and acronyms whenever possible,  or explain them clearly if you must use them. The goal isn’t to oversimplify complex ideas, but to make them easier to grasp and more engaging, so they stick.

3. Inviting questions and feedback, and developing awareness

Whether you’re writing a blog, giving a talk, or leading a workshop, aim for clarity, because true impact depends on it. Make sure your audience feels comfortable engaging with you, even as you explain complex topics. If you’re presenting, you can break the ice by inviting the audience to ask questions at any time or showing appreciation when someone speaks up. If you’re writing, anticipate common questions and address them in your text, or encourage readers to share feedback. And when someone gets something wrong, don’t act surprised or dismissive. Instead, try to recall the first time you learned this idea. What puzzled you then? That memory will guide you in explaining it now.

As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect. The more you apply these steps, the easier it becomes to explain your ideas clearly, help others follow along, and build genuine connections. For science communicators, avoiding the curse of knowledge isn’t just about clarity; it’s also about trust, engagement, and effectively reaching your intended audience. By bridging the gap between what we know and what our audience needs, we make science more approachable and meaningful for the people it’s meant to serve.