This is a Lexicon entry: the mechanism, when it shows up, and the countermeasure. The full correction, with real-world cases and the audit prompt, hasn't been written yet.
Definition
A bias where an intellectual becomes so enamored with a single concept they popularise that they try to apply it to explain everything. Maslow's original formulation: "If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail."
When it shows up
When you have a framework, tool or approach that has worked well; when facing a new problem type.
Failure mode
Applying the wrong tool correctly and efficiently. Every problem looking like the thing your favourite framework addresses.
Countermeasure
Before applying a familiar framework, explicitly ask: "Is this actually the same problem type?" Force yourself to define the problem fresh before reaching for familiar tools.
Related traps
Also connected in the map7 more, locked
Credit & first seen
DiscoveredDerived from Maslow's "law of the instrument" (1966).
Also revealed
Entry #24 of 631 in The Lexicon · see the full Lexicon