Hindsight Dismissal

Dismissing research or evidence because it confirms something that seems intuitive.

"Well duh, anyone could have told you that."

"This is just common sense dressed up as research."

"We didn't need a study to know this."

"Obviously. Why waste money researching the obvious?"

Why It's Unproductive

Treats confirmation as worthlessness and makes the person sharing feel foolish for valuing evidence. It's tempting because pointing out the obvious feels like demonstrating insight, but it signals caring more about appearing smart than learning what's actually true. Shuts down discussion of nuance or unexpected details in the research.

The Better Move

"Makes sense. Have there been any surprising findings in this area?"

"Good to have data backing up the intuition."

"What convinced researchers this was worth testing?"

"I suspected that, but interesting to see it confirmed. What was the sample size?"

Why It's Better

Acknowledges the intuition while staying curious about details. Treats confirmation as useful rather than obvious, keeping the conversation open to nuance.

Example

OP: "New study shows that getting 7-8 hours of sleep improves cognitive performance."

Antipattern reply: "Well duh, anyone could have told you that. We didn't need a study for this."

Better: "Makes sense. Were there any surprising findings about sleep quality vs. quantity, or what counts as 'cognitive performance'?"