Failure to see the Big Picture
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Original Question
The big picture is the totality of a situation. A well-intentioned person who is trying to do his best work, yet is hyper-focused on one aspect and completely oblivious to the fact that his job is part of a larger project fails to see the Big Picture. Is there a name for this?
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Answers
3Some kind of bias thats causing the person to cherry picking what they want to focus on. Could be due to the base rate bias.
Myopic was the first word that came to mind, as well, but on further investigation tunnel-vision may be a better fit. The former implies a more permanent cognitive or physical narrow-mindedness whereas the latter may just be a temporary phase of intensity and focus on a particular project.
I think the term myopic fits. Not a fallacy, but could be a cognitive/reasoning flaw.
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It would take an all-knowing being to see the totality of any situation and we mere mortals will always be left with partial information on any given topic. Having said that, being too focused will leave one with a very narrow perspective and conclusion. Also, we have to keep in mind that not all variables are related or relevant. For example, I may be studying topic X and someone suggests that I consider Y also, but it is obvious that Y has nothing to do with the topic. In that case red-herrings could be a factor.