Scientific Definition
The mind can be socially influenced toward conclusions that bypass scrutiny.
Plain-English Definition
The mind can be socially influenced toward conclusions that bypass scrutiny.
Feynman Explanation
Cults and corporate cultures share more techniques than either admits.
Core Principle
The mind can be socially influenced toward conclusions that bypass scrutiny.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
The mind can be socially influenced toward conclusions that bypass scrutiny.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Strong cultures can quietly homogenize judgment.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Cults and corporate cultures share more techniques than either admits.
Examples
- Onboarding programs that shape worldview faster than skills.
- Strong cultures can quietly homogenize judgment.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Cultivate productive heretics. Protect dissent structurally.
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Cultivate productive heretics. Protect dissent structurally.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
People, tasks, and inputs that quietly drain disproportionate energy relative to value returned.
The deepest level of listening — where new possibility emerges that neither party brought into the room.
The minimum energy needed to start a reaction; same idea for starting habits or initiatives.
Time is fixed; energy is not. Manage the renewable.
The brain minimizes effort by default — most cognition is on cruise control.
Rick Hanson: 'Velcro for negative, Teflon for positive.' The brain encodes threats faster and stickier than rewards.
New neurons are formed in the adult brain, especially the hippocampus.
Mental rehearsal pattern: see yourself doing the new behavior, refine, step in, run it kinesthetically until it's natural.
A group decides on a course of action that nobody actually wants, because everyone assumes others prefer it.
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
We attribute our own actions to situations but others' actions to their character.
We favor people who are similar to us or who like us.