How the Curse of Knowledge Kills Communication

A Stanford University study in 1990 discovered a principle that deeply affects all of our communication.

The psychology experiment, led by a grad student named Elizabeth Newton, assigned groups of two people to play a simple game. One person would be the tapper. The other would be the listener.

The tapper was asked to pick a simple song that everyone would know like “Happy Birthday.” Then, only by tapping the rhythm on a table, their job was to help the listener guess the song.

Before the game started, the tappers were asked to guess to predict their success rate. They predicted that the listener would get 50% of the songs correct.

The results: the listeners only guessed the song correct 3 times out of 120 attempts (2.5%).

What happened?

The tappers had the curse of knowledge. While tapping the song, they heard the melody in their heads. The answer was obvious to them.

The listeners, on the other hand, did not have the same knowledge as the tappers. They only heard tapping.

Try this game for yourself. It’s incredibly difficult!

What’s the Point?

As pastors, we all have the curse of knowledge.

We know too much!

Many of us have years of a college level study of the Bible under our belts. Some of us have even studied at the masters or even doctoral level.

You know all the stories. You have read the book multiple times from cover to cover. You never lose a game of Bible trivia.

If we are not careful, like the tappers, when we preach we will think that we are communicating clearly. In our mind, the point of our sermon is obvious. We reference Biblical characters while speaking in Christian terminology and expect everyone in the audience to understand like we do.

The listeners, however, do not have the same knowledge you do!

This is especially true if you are trying to reach people who don’t yet know Jesus. Many of them have never read the entire Bible, much less one book. They got a degree in business, architecture, graphic design, or how to party. Maybe they never went to college.

This is why many preach, but few connect. The curse of knowledge sneaks into our sermons. We take our years of study for granted.

Keep this in mind the next time you preach.

Breaking the Curse

Braking the curse begins with awareness. If anything in your message assumes that the listener has any prior knowledge, you will fail to connect with. You are tapping “Happy Birthday.”

This doesn’t mean you have to water down what you preach. It only means you have to teach as if those listening to your message know nothing about God, Jesus, Church, Christianity, and the Bible.

You can take the message deep, but you need to start with the people in the kiddie pool and move them to the deep end.

The best way to do this is to think specifically about the non-believer sitting in the back row of your church. This may be your one and only shot to reach that person.

Preach with her in mind. Then, your preaching will sing a melody.

Preach with him in mind. Then, the curse of knowledge will flee and you will truly communicate.