Maslow's hammer

Working effectively with others - cognitive bias.

Maslow's hammer is a cognitive bias that involves over-reliance on a familiar tool:

"I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail."

Abraham Maslow, The Psychology of Science, 1966.

Examples include leaders persisting with ineffective leadership approaches that have worked well for them in the past, but that are no longer effective in their current environment.

Other versions of this quotation include, "To he who is good with the hammer, everything looks like a nail."

Other names for the same cognitive bias include the 'law of the instrument' and the 'Einstellung Effect'.

See also

• Affinity bias
• Bandwagon bias
• Behavioural economics
• Choice supporting bias
• Cognitive bias
• Confirmation bias
• Diversity
• Dunning-Kruger effect
• Emotional intelligence
• Executive coaching
• Hindsight bias
• Impostor syndrome
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs
• Objectivity
• Optimism bias
• Reactance bias
• Self-investment bias
• Social bias
• Source bias
• Working effectively with others