Stickiness
Pomelos: Using Schemas to Aid in Explanation
- explain what a pomelo is in 2 ways:
- A pomelo is the largest citrus fruit. The rind is very thick but soft and easy to peel away. The resulting fruit has a light yellow to coral pink flesh and can vary from juicy to slightly dry and from seductively spicy- sweet to tangy and tart
- A pomelo is basically a super sized grapefruit with a very thick and soft rind
- which do you know more about?
- the second explanation is stickier because we have used our existing grapefruit schema to help understand a new concept
- this is analogous to object-oriented programming, in the sense that a grapefruit inherit certain properties, such as tanginess, citrus, acidic etc. When we say something is like a grapefruit, then that object we are describing inherits all of these properties, plus all of the ones that we specify afterwards. (Ex. It is like uber for hotels)
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the most basic way to get someone's attention is to break a pattern
- humans adapt quickly to consistent patterns. Consistent and predictable patterns cause us to tune out
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Percentages are easier to understand than big numbers
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Use intuitive concepts when possible
- ex. "...costs as much as a b-2 bomber" is not as relatable as "...costs as much as one soft drink per month"
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