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top   »  information   »  knowledge   »  types of knowledge   »  know-how   »  trained incapacity

What is Trained Incapacity?

 , July 08, 2016
Trained incapacity is the idea that certain types of education, training, experience and habit may lead an individual to be unable to think beyond of a set of constraints and assumptions that they have formed. It has several common variations:

Experts vs Laypersons

Experts may be unable to see how laypersons view topics in their domain.

Specialists vs Generalists

Specialists may be unable to think like a generalist.

Bureaucrats & Rules

Bureaucrats may be unable to think outside of a process or set of rules.

Convergent vs Divergent Thinking

People who have been educated in a system focused on convergent thinking may find it difficult to apply divergent thinking that once came naturally to them.

Resistance to Change

Trained incapacity can be used to explain the common tendency for people to resist organizational change. When habit replaces creative and critical thought, a system starts to feel concrete, unchangeable and important. This is only a comfortable illusion as the real world is in a constant drive to change.
Overview: Trained Incapacity
TypeEducation
Change Management
Organizational Culture
DefinitionEducation, training, experience or habits that lead to an inability to think beyond a set of constraints and assumptions.
Related ConceptsCreativity Of Constraints
Thought Processes
Thought Terminating Cliche
Resistance To Change
Unlearning

Thinking

This is the complete list of articles we have written about thinking.
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Concept
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Curse Of Knowledge
Decision Fatigue
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Divergent Thinking
Educated Guess
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Epic Meaning
Essential Complexity
Excluded Middle
Failure Of Imagination
Fallacies
Fallacy Fallacy
False Analogy
False Balance
False Dichotomy
False Equivalence
First Principles
Formal Logic
Four Causes
Fuzzy Logic
Generalization
Golden Hammer
Good Judgement
Grey Area
Groupthink
Heuristics
Hindsight Bias
Hope
Idealism
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If-By-Whiskey
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Overthinking
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Propositional Logic
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Reasoning
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Want To Believe
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Win-Win Thinking
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Worldview
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Cite »

Thought Processes

A list of thinking approaches and types.

Logic

A few logic terms explained.

Cognitive Biases

A list of common cognitive biases explained.

Abstract Ideas

A few dangers of being too abstract.

Objective vs Subjective

The difference between objective and subjective.

Intellectual Diversity

A definition of intellectual diversity with examples.

Creative Value

The definition of creative value with examples.

Anecdotal Evidence

The definition of anecdotal evidence with examples.

Benefit Of Doubt

The definition of benefit of doubt with examples.

Pessimism

The definition of pessimism with examples.

Fallacies

A list of logical fallacies.

Fallacy Fallacy

The fallacy of being too worried about fallacy.

Broken Window Fallacy

An overview of the broken window fallacy.

Overwhelming Exception

A common logical fallacy.

Prosecutor's Fallacy

An overview of the Prosecutor's Fallacy.

Whataboutism

The definition of whataboutism with examples.

Double Bind

The definition of a double bind with examples.

False Equivalence

The definition of false equivalence with examples.

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