Scientific Definition
Repeated stimuli produce diminishing response.
Plain-English Definition
Repeated stimuli produce diminishing response.
Feynman Explanation
Even your best comp plan stops motivating eventually.
Core Principle
Repeated stimuli produce diminishing response.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Repeated stimuli produce diminishing response.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Even your best comp plan stops motivating eventually.
Examples
- Why financial bonuses lose punch over time.
- Reward system refresh cycles.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Variability and novelty as design principles.
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.
- Variability and novelty as design principles.
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.
Willpower fails; structure works.
Cue → routine → reward.
New habits anchored to existing ones stick faster.
Repeated stimuli sometimes produce stronger response.
Naming an emotion reduces its intensity.
Cumulative physiological wear from chronic stress.
Emotional override of rational processing.
Brain region tracking conflict, error, and effort.
We treat AI as more humanlike than it is.
Attention is the most contested resource in modern work.
Task switches leave cognitive residue that degrades performance.
Self-direction is one of the deepest motivational levers.