Scientific Definition
Presuming a purposeful actor behind events that may have no actor at all.
Plain-English Definition
Presuming a purposeful actor behind events that may have no actor at all.
Feynman Explanation
Our ancestors who saw lions in the grass lived. Those who saw grass died.
Core Principle
Presuming a purposeful actor behind events that may have no actor at all.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Presuming a purposeful actor behind events that may have no actor at all.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Strategic paranoia outpaces strategic reality.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Our ancestors who saw lions in the grass lived. Those who saw grass died.
Examples
- Blaming a competitor's 'master plan' for what was actually a market accident.
- Strategic paranoia outpaces strategic reality.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Always rule out randomness and emergence before assigning intent.
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.
- Always rule out randomness and emergence before assigning intent.
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.
Deriving general rules from specific examples; the leap from instance to concept.
The brain evolved to reason adaptively, not always truthfully, to reduce the cost of errors.
We solve problems by adding, even when subtracting would be better.
Assuming that if one option is true, another must be false, when both can be true.
What cannot be settled by experiment is not worth debating.
A finite set of well-defined instructions for solving a problem or performing a computation.
Every model simplifies reality; some are still useful.
Researchers favor conclusions aligned with their school, team, or sponsor.
Using personal stories or isolated examples instead of evidence.
Claiming something is true or better because most people believe it.
Assuming something is true because it is probable or possible.
Using an authority's opinion as evidence, regardless of its merits.