Scientific Definition
Adding the word 'because' (with any reason) increases compliance dramatically.
Plain-English Definition
Adding the word 'because' (with any reason) increases compliance dramatically.
Feynman Explanation
The word 'because' is a social cheat code.
Core Principle
Adding the word 'because' (with any reason) increases compliance dramatically.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Adding the word 'because' (with any reason) increases compliance dramatically.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Internal requests with stated rationale move faster, even when the rationale is thin.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
The word 'because' is a social cheat code.
Examples
- 'Can I cut in line because I need to make copies?' works almost as well as a real reason.
- Internal requests with stated rationale move faster, even when the rationale is thin.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Audit your own compliance — are you accepting reasons, or just the word 'because'?
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 your own compliance — are you accepting reasons, or just the word 'because'?
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.
A group decides on a course of action that nobody actually wants, because everyone assumes others prefer it.
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
We attribute our own actions to situations but others' actions to their character.
We favor people who are similar to us or who like us.
Sacrificing for others without expecting a personal reward.
Masking the sponsors of a message to make it appear grassroots.
Disagreement grows more extreme as the parties think more about the issue.
Systematic errors in explaining the causes of behavior — yours or others'.
We accept vague, general statements as personally meaningful.
Behaviors spread through groups via observation and imitation.
We come to like people we've done a favor for, more than people who've helped us.
Subconscious preference for numbers (and letters) that appear in our own name or birthday.