Scientific Definition
Brain weights existing state heavily.
Plain-English Definition
Brain weights existing state heavily.
Feynman Explanation
Defaults aren't neutral. They're powerful.
Core Principle
Brain weights existing state heavily.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Brain weights existing state heavily.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Defaults aren't neutral. They're powerful.
Examples
- Why opt-out beats opt-in dramatically.
- Every default is a policy.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Audit defaults. Choose them.
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.
- Audit defaults. Choose them.
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.
How options are presented changes which ones get chosen.
Too many options produces worse decisions and less satisfaction.
Decision quality degrades over the course of a day.
Defaults bypass active cognition.
Two ways of thinking, both real, both useful, often mis-deployed.
Fast intuitive vs. slow deliberative thinking.
Most biases are efficient heuristics misapplied.
Glucose, omega-3s, sleep, and hydration each influence decision quality.
Bad lands harder than good in the brain.
Threats to status trigger the same neural alarm as physical threats.
Naming an emotion reduces its intensity.
Cumulative physiological wear from chronic stress.