<p>Tom Boardman's suggestion in the question comments about the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_instrument" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Law of the Instrument</a> (&quot;if all you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail&quot;) seems to capture an important aspect of this, especially with respect to illustrating that it's not necessarily done out of malice.</p>
<p>The simplest theoretical explanation would cast this in terms of <strong><a href="http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Attention#Goal-driven.2C_or_endogenous.2C_orienting" rel="nofollow noreferrer">top-down</a> processing and attention</strong> (Ward, 2008), combined with the <strong>availability heuristic</strong> (Schwarz et al., 1991). These two factors lead to a situation where whatever a student is knowledgeable about is more likely to come to mind in a discussion, and then whatever is on the student's mind is incorporated into the discussion. When the student encounters something that doesn't fit into what they know well, they might inadvertently change the subject to something that does, simply because that's what comes to mind and thus ends up being what shapes their thoughts.</p>
<p><strong>References</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Lawrence M. Ward (2008) Attention. Scholarpedia, 3(10):1538.</p>
<p>Schwarz, N., Bless, H., Strack, F., Klumpp, G., Rittenauer-Schatka, H., &amp; Simons, A. (1991). Ease of retrieval as information: Another look at the availability heuristic. Journal of Personality and Social psychology, 61(2), 195-202.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-31T11:19:09.577Z
2013-03-31T11:19:09.577Z
2020-06-17T09:55:31.633Z
Christian Hummeluhr
<p>Sometimes, a student who has a lack of knowledge, tries to change the topic of a question so that it will be about what he knows and can speak about. Is this a known phenomenon in psychology?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-02-26T22:02:43.030Z
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_instrument ?
Tom Boardman
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-02-27T05:45:44.570Z
It sounds a bit like framing/reframing. Politicians and job applicants do it all the time.
Jeromy Anglim
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-02-28T21:41:18.513Z
@Dims: I believe it is related with the strong biological urge to be right, mixed in with the ego and caring what other people think. Call them out on it next time....haha
Greg McNulty
<terminology><educational-psychology>
What is it called when a student tends to speak about what he knows?
Dims
# What is it called when a student tends to speak about what he knows?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-02-26)

Sometimes, a student who has a lack of knowledge, tries to change the topic of a question so that it will be about what he knows and can speak about. Is this a known phenomenon in psychology?

**Tags:** terminology, educational-psychology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_instrument ?  
> **username_2**: It sounds a bit like framing/reframing. Politicians and job applicants do it all the time.  
> **username_3**: @username_0: I believe it is related with the strong biological urge to be right, mixed in with the ego and caring what other people think. Call them out on it next time....haha  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2013-03-31. Score: 3

username_1's suggestion in the question comments about the [Law of the Instrument](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_instrument) ("if all you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail") seems to capture an important aspect of this, especially with respect to illustrating that it's not necessarily done out of malice.

The simplest theoretical explanation would cast this in terms of **[top-down](http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Attention#Goal-driven.2C_or_endogenous.2C_orienting) processing and attention** (Ward, 2008), combined with the **availability heuristic** (Schwarz et al., 1991). These two factors lead to a situation where whatever a student is knowledgeable about is more likely to come to mind in a discussion, and then whatever is on the student's mind is incorporated into the discussion. When the student encounters something that doesn't fit into what they know well, they might inadvertently change the subject to something that does, simply because that's what comes to mind and thus ends up being what shapes their thoughts.

**References**

> Lawrence M. Ward (2008) Attention. Scholarpedia, 3(10):1538.
>
> Schwarz, N., Bless, H., Strack, F., Klumpp, G., Rittenauer-Schatka, H., & Simons, A. (1991). Ease of retrieval as information: Another look at the availability heuristic. Journal of Personality and Social psychology, 61(2), 195-202.


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