Epistemic dysmorphia

A sustained, self-reinforcing distortion of students' perception of their own cognitive development, produced by fluent output, sycophantic feedback and assessment that rewards products without verifying process.

Epistemic dysmorphia is a term introduced by Anthony R Brand (2026) for a sustained, self-reinforcing distortion of students’ perception of their own cognitive development, produced by fluent output, sycophantic feedback and assessment that rewards products without verifying process.

First set out in Epistemic dysmorphia: a working definition, a germ deposited at Zenodo on 6 November 2026 — doi:10.5281/zenodo.23989690 (all versions).

Lineage

2024	Paper	The ChatGPT Effect: Rethinking Architectural Pedagogy in the AI Age
06.11.26	Germ · v1	Epistemic dysmorphia: a working definition