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← People and their mental models

Steven Pinker's mental models

3 claims Steven Pinker made fit 2 mental models. Most often: Curse of knowledge, Incentives. Everything they said here.

Models they name

Their own words name the idea.

Curse of knowledge

Once you know something, you cannot remember not knowing it. Fresh eyes see what you no longer can: a newcomer's, or your own after time away.

Used by 6 others

What is obvious to you is often not obvious to anyone else, so show early drafts to a representative reader.

  1. Steven Pinker by Cognitive scientist and author at Harvard You’d often be surprised to find that what’s obvious to you is not obvious to anyone else, The Curse of Knowledge: Pinker Describes a Key Cause of Bad Writing (APS Observer, report of his APS lecture)psychologicalscience.org · by 30 Jul 2015All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsYou’d often be surprised to find that what’s obvious to you is not obvious to anyone else,

    ↗The Curse of Knowledge: Pinker Describes a Key Cause of Bad Writing (APS Observer, report of his APS lecture)psychologicalscience.org

    by 30 Jul 2015

The curse of knowledge is the chief contributor to opaque writing.

  1. Steven Pinker by Cognitive scientist and author at Harvard I think the curse of knowledge is the chief contributor to opaque writing, The Curse of Knowledge: Pinker Describes a Key Cause of Bad Writing (APS Observer, report of his APS lecture)psychologicalscience.org · by 30 Jul 2015All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsI think the curse of knowledge is the chief contributor to opaque writing,

    ↗The Curse of Knowledge: Pinker Describes a Key Cause of Bad Writing (APS Observer, report of his APS lecture)psychologicalscience.org

    by 30 Jul 2015

Models we see in what they say

Our reading: their claim applies the idea without naming it. The claim is theirs; filing it here is ours.

Incentives

Look at what people are rewarded for; it explains more behaviour than what they say, your own included.

Used by 85 others

Exchange can make a society nicer as well as richer, because in a market buying is cheaper than stealing

  1. Steven Pinker Cognitive scientist and author at Harvard Exchange can make an entire society not just richer but nicer, because in an effective market it is cheaper to buy things than to steal them and other people are more valuable to you alive than dead. 'Reason is non-negotiable': Steven Pinker on the Enlightenment (The Guardian, extract from Enlightenment Now)theguardian.com · 11 Feb 2018All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsExchange can make an entire society not just richer but nicer, because in an effective market it is cheaper to buy things than to steal them and other people are more valuable to you alive than dead.

    ↗'Reason is non-negotiable': Steven Pinker on the Enlightenment (The Guardian, extract from Enlightenment Now)theguardian.com

    11 Feb 2018