Principlev1PR-573
When expertise becomes locked into a familiar schema…
When expertise becomes locked into a familiar schema, attentional resources get captured by schema-consistent features, making genuinely better alternatives perceptually invisible even when they are objectively present.
Why This Is a Principle
This derives from Expertise Transforms Perceptual Chunking (expertise changes chunk perception), Attention as Gate to Conscious Perception (attention is capacity-limited), and Goals as Perceptual Filters (goals function as perceptual filters). The Einstellung effect described is a principle about HOW rigid schemas degrade decision quality through attentional capture. It prescribes awareness that existing schemas commandeer perception.