Scientific Definition
Threats to identity activate strong defensive responses.
Plain-English Definition
Threats to identity activate strong defensive responses.
Feynman Explanation
Don't tell people they're wrong. Tell them their goal moved.
Core Principle
Threats to identity activate strong defensive responses.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Threats to identity activate strong defensive responses.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Don't tell people they're wrong. Tell them their goal moved.
Examples
- Why political persuasion so often backfires.
- Change management that attacks identity produces resistance.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Frame change in identity-protective language.
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.
- Frame change in identity-protective language.
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.
Naming an emotion reduces its intensity.
Emotions spread through groups via micro-cues.
Subjective feeling of not deserving one's success.
Brain region tracking internal state and gut feeling.
Loss processed more intensely than equivalent gain.
Bad lands harder than good in the brain.
Threats to status trigger the same neural alarm as physical threats.
Under threat, the prefrontal cortex goes offline.
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.