We are biased by the bell curve

We are biased by the bell curve in many domains of our decision making. For example: In investing, we discount the possibility of rare and unpredictable large deviations in stock prices. In marketing, we want to believe that “there is a meaningful ‘average consumer’ that can be used to scale products and operations around.” We are asked to rate Uber drivers, Airbnbs and Yelp establishments on a 1-5 bell curve scale, and yet the ratings cluster above 4. Any person or place rated lower, in essence, fails.  The implication of our tendency to assume that things are distributed normally is that we have a huge flaw in how we interpret what we see and how we make decisions. Better to step back and see what things look like without imposing the bell curve from the get-go.