Armchair Experts: The Rise of Amateur Opinions Damaging Relationships and Communication

In the era of easily accessible information, therapists are noticing a troubling trend: clients expressing frustration over friends and acquaintances who present themselves as instant experts on complex topics after brief online research.

“Many of our conversations end with these friends quoting something they read on AI while doing research or watched on social media,” reported a 46-year-old male client in therapy. “It frustrates me how confident and definitive my friends are about workouts, the amount of daily protein needed, or explaining how a particular probiotic works for the body. Everyone seems to be an expert on every topic.”

Mental health professionals have observed this phenomenon increasingly over the past year. Clients frequently discuss encounters with others who display unwavering confidence when discussing global politics, psychological concepts, nutrition science, aging, healthcare, and various other complex subjects—despite having only surface-level knowledge gained through quick internet searches or social media posts.

Psychologists have identified this cognitive bias as the “illusion of explanatory depth” (IOED), a term first introduced by researchers Leonid Rozenblit and Frank Keil in their 2002 paper, “The Misunderstood Limits of Folk Science: An Illusion of Explanatory Depth.” According to their research, “People feel they understand complex phenomena with far greater precision, coherence, and depth than they really do; they are subject to an illusion—an illusion of explanatory depth.”

Numerous experiments have since confirmed this finding. When individuals are asked to explain in detail how certain phenomena work, most quickly recognize the gaps in their understanding and acknowledge that they had overestimated their comprehension of the subject.

This cognitive bias has become more prevalent with the rise of social media and AI-powered information sources. People absorb terminology and talking points but often lack the deeper understanding that comes with formal education or extensive experience in a particular field.

The phenomenon is especially noticeable in therapy settings, where clients increasingly use psychological terms like “trauma bond” or “narcissism” without fully grasping their clinical meanings. While social media has expanded people’s vocabulary, this expanded lexicon often creates an illusion of expertise that can be counterproductive to the therapeutic process.

“This approach misses out the nuances, leads to a culture of labelling others and moves us away from exploration in therapy,” notes one psychotherapist who has observed this trend firsthand.

Scientists across disciplines report similar experiences. When asked to explain mechanisms step-by-step—whether it’s how an air purifier works or the processes behind climate change—many people struggle to provide accurate explanations despite previously expressing confidence in their understanding.

The impact of this cognitive bias extends beyond personal frustration. IOED can lead to the spread of misinformation and rigidity in opinions, which are often presented as indisputable “truths.” This can result in communication breakdowns in personal relationships and reduce our collective capacity for nuanced exploration of complex topics.

Perhaps most concerning is how IOED compromises critical thinking skills. Overconfidence in understanding complex phenomena often leads to a diluted grasp of important details and, consequently, to the spread of misinformation both online and in personal interactions.

Experts suggest that the antidote to this growing problem is cultivating genuine curiosity and intellectual humility. This means developing the capacity to acknowledge when we don’t fully understand something and accepting that comprehensive knowledge of all subjects is impossible—even in the age of instant information.

As awareness of IOED grows, there’s hope that people will adopt more thoughtful approaches to consuming information online: pausing before accepting claims at face value, verifying information through multiple credible sources, and remaining open to diverse perspectives when engaging in conversations with others.

In a world where information is abundant but wisdom remains scarce, recognizing the limits of our understanding may be the first step toward more meaningful and authentic discourse.