“Life is truly simple, yet we insist on making it complicated,” said Confucius. Sometimes, it feels like we have a knack for complicating things. Like when we follow a ketogenic diet instead of simply eating less and choosing healthier foods. Or when we’re exhausted and explore alternative therapies or supplements without questioning that maybe what we need is a simple vacation or more sleep.
Why do we seek out complex solutions when the answer is obvious and much simpler? The answer could lie in complexity bias.
What is complexity bias?
In 1989, two psychologists at the University of California asked a group of participants to establish an arithmetic rule. They were given a set of three numbers (such as 2, 4, 6) and had to generate a hypothesis by asking the experimenter if other numerical sequences conformed to the rule they were trying to discover.
The actual rule was simple: list three ascending numbers.
Participants could have said anything from “1, 2, 3” to random numbers like “3, 7, 99,” but most didn’t. Instead, they devised complex rules for the sequences.
That study revealed that we often suffer from complexity bias, which describes our tendency to believe that complex is better. We assume that if something is complicated to understand, it’s probably more sophisticated, true, or valuable. Conversely, something presented in a simple way often generates suspicion, and we think, “If it were that easy, we would have done it already,” or “It sounds too simple to be true.”
As a result, when faced with two opposing hypotheses or solutions, we are likely to choose the most complex one. Therefore, when we need to solve a problem, we may ignore the simpler solutions, assuming they will never work, and opt for the more complicated ones.
Why are we attracted to complexity?
The complexity bias is not accidental; it has deep psychological and social roots. From a young age, we learn to value difficulty. We reward what is most difficult, what requires effort and sacrifice. Thus, we end up associating complexity with value, intelligence, or seriousness, while simplicity is confused with naivety or superficiality.
The curious thing about complexity bias is that, like all other cognitive biases, it’s nothing more than a mental shortcut. Although it seemingly complicates our lives, opting for impenetrable solutions allows us to avoid the need to understand.
In a way, it’s an unconscious strategy to distance ourselves from a problem by labeling it as too complex. After all, if we believe something is extremely difficult, we’re more likely to give up trying to understand it.
In fact, many professionals, politicians, brands, and “experts” often play into this bias. They present certain ideas using technical terms, formulas, or jargon to be taken seriously and overcomplicate their discourse with the sole aim of discouraging people from trying to understand what’s really going on because, supposedly, they lack the knowledge and tools to do so.
Thus, the recipient interprets this complexity as a sign of depth and complexity, even though it often only hides empty words and a lack of clarity. As a result, we may end up buying a cream that “contains peptides” without fully understanding its benefits or supporting a new law without fully understanding its implications.
On the other hand, complexity bias also has a protective and reassuring effect. When we perceive the world as chaotic and things beyond our control, we prefer to think it’s too complex. Complexity, ultimately, conveys the idea that there is order, even if we don’t know it.
Complexity makes us think there’s a “system” or order behind it. It encourages us to believe that if we can decipher it, we’ll have more control. Simplicity, on the other hand, can seem uncomfortably obvious or even ridiculous when faced with problems we perceive as “serious.”
And sometimes, accepting a simple solution means acknowledging something uncomfortable. For example, knowing that sleeping better and exercising can improve your mood is simple… but often difficult to accept and implement, so we sometimes prefer to think there’s something deeper behind it. In those cases, complexity bias frees us from taking action while we waste time searching for a more complex cause.
The consequences of complexity bias
Complexity bias isn’t just a psychological curiosity. It has practical implications and, sometimes, it can also cost us dearly.
- Inefficient decision-making. When we believe the best option is the most complicated, we run the risk of rejecting simple, straightforward, and effective solutions. For example, in business, a simple improvement strategy may be ignored because it’s considered “too basic,” opting instead for cumbersome systems that consume more time and resources.
- Overvaluation of empty speeches. In public and political communication, this bias leads to rewarding elaborate speeches, even if they are filled with ambiguities or euphemisms that no one understands. Complexity gives an appearance of authority, even if it doesn’t convey much.
- Mental overload. Valuing complexity over functionality increases cognitive stress. More mental energy is invested in processing unnecessarily complex information, which hampers decision-making and fuels procrastination.
- Self-deception and stagnation. Many people resist simple changes because they believe their problems require “deep” solutions. This thinking can lead to stagnation, since if a complex strategy isn’t available, they don’t do anything.
How to counteract complexity bias?
Complexity bias acts like an invisible filter that distorts our way of thinking, communicating, and deciding. It pushes us to reject the obvious, to suspect the simple, and to overvalue the complex.
While complexity has its place, learning to value simplicity as a sign of clarity and maturity can save us time, energy, and frustration. Because sometimes, the most valuable thing isn’t what complicates things, but what makes them understandable.
Recognizing the existence of this bias is the first step, but it’s not enough. We need to actively train our minds to value simplicity and stop the tendency to undervalue it.
An effective strategy is to apply the principle of parsimony, also known as Occam’s razor. Basically, this philosophical principle suggests that we should never multiply causes unnecessarily. It proposes three basic rules:
- All things being equal, the simplest explanation is usually the best.
- There is no need to postulate the existence of unnecessary entities for the explanation.
- We must try to explain the unknown in terms of the known.
That doesn’t mean the simplest solution or explanation is always the correct one, but we should start there, instead of unnecessarily complicating our lives. So, it’s better to ask ourselves from now on: Does this really need to be so difficult? Or are we just unnecessarily complicating things?
Source:
Farris, HH & Revlin, R. (1989) Sensitive reasoning in two tasks: Rule discovery and hypothesis evaluation. Memory & Cognition ; 17: 221–232.
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