Appeal to Tradition is it's right because it's how we've always done it. It sits in the Cognition dimension (COG) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™ as element HBT-COG-0053, within the Relevance Fallacy family. The core principle: it's right because it's how we've always done it. In incentive terms, it matters because it changes the payoff people perceive before they choose — which means it can be designed for, or exploited.
Scientific Definition
It's right because it's how we've always done it.
Plain-English Definition
It's right because it's how we've always done it.
Feynman Explanation
The phrase 'best practice' is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
Core Principle
It's right because it's how we've always done it.
Mechanisms
It's right because it's how we've always done it.
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Inputs (Triggers)
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Outputs (Behaviors)
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Behavioral Signature
The phrase 'best practice' is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
Examples
- Comp plans unchanged since 2007, defended on principle.
- Legacy practices preserved past their useful life.
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Original analysis from The Incentives Lab — how this element behaves inside real payoff structures.
Why this element matters to incentive design
When this element shows up in a diagnostic, the instinct is to train people out of it. Training rarely moves it. The mechanism underneath it is straightforward: it's right because it's how we've always done it. You can recognize it in the field by its signature: the phrase 'best practice' is doing a lot of work in that sentence. Every element in the Cognition dimension changes the perceived payoff of an action before the action happens, which is exactly where incentive design has leverage.
How it gets exploited
Left undesigned, legacy practices preserved past their useful life. It is amplified whenever legacy practices preserved past their useful life. Inside organizations that shows up as legacy practices preserved past their useful life. The pattern is the same one Goodhart's Law describes: the measurable proxy attracts the effort, and the purpose behind it quietly loses funding.
How the Lab designs around it
The redesign move is to make the desired behavior observable, remove whatever currently pays for its opposite, and attach the reward to the behavior rather than to the noisy outcome downstream of it. The test of any redesign here is simple: after the change, can you name what the organization is now doing less of? If not, the payoff structure did not actually move.
Famous Experiments
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Design Principles
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Measurement Approaches
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Evidence
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The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
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Interactive Mini Network
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Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
It's true because authority says so.
Common sense says so, therefore it's true.
Believing something is true because of the consequences of its truth.
Claiming something is true because it hasn't been proven false (or vice versa).
If it's 'natural,' it's good.
It's better because it's newer.
Attacking the person rather than the argument.
I can't believe it; therefore it isn't true.
Saying it enough times until it sounds true.
It's true because many believe it.
Asking the other side to disprove an unsupported claim.
Concluding that because an argument contained a fallacy, its conclusion must be false.
Where Appeal to Tradition is cited in the corpus
Essays, field guides, and diagnostics from The Incentives Lab that apply this element.
- EssayGoodhart's Law in the Real World
How measurable proxies capture judgment.
- EssayThe Perverse Incentives Hiding in Your KPIs
Cognitive shortcuts turned into scorecards.
- CourseIncentives 101
The free ten-part primer on reading a payoff structure.
- ReferenceThe Periodic Table of Human Behavior
The full 1,267-element map this page belongs to.
Questions about Appeal to Tradition
- What is Appeal to Tradition?
- Appeal to Tradition is it's right because it's how we've always done it. It sits in the Cognition dimension (COG) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™ as element HBT-COG-0053, within the Relevance Fallacy family. The core principle: it's right because it's how we've always done it. In incentive terms, it matters because it changes the payoff people perceive before they choose — which means it can be designed for, or exploited.
- What is an example of Appeal to Tradition?
- Legacy practices preserved past their useful life. The Incentives Lab catalogs everyday, organizational, and historical instances of this element on its Human Behavior Taxonomy™ page (HBT-COG-0053).
- How is Appeal to Tradition exploited?
- Legacy practices preserved past their useful life.
- How do you design around Appeal to Tradition?
- Name the behavior you want in observable terms, remove what currently pays for the opposite, attach the reward to the behavior rather than a lagging proxy, and publish how you will detect gaming.
- Which behavioral dimension does Appeal to Tradition belong to?
- Appeal to Tradition is classified in the Cognition dimension (COG) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™, family "Relevance Fallacy", class "Logical Fallacy". Its permanent identifier is HBT-COG-0053 and its evidence grade is B.