Scientific Definition
Behaviors spread through groups via observation and imitation.
Plain-English Definition
Behaviors spread through groups via observation and imitation.
Feynman Explanation
What spreads in the room is more than ideas.
Core Principle
Behaviors spread through groups via observation and imitation.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Behaviors spread through groups via observation and imitation.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Culture is the equilibrium of contagious behaviors.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
What spreads in the room is more than ideas.
Examples
- Late-arrival norms, deadline-slip norms, working-weekend norms.
- Culture is the equilibrium of contagious behaviors.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Notice what you tolerate; that's what propagates.
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.
- Notice what you tolerate; that's what propagates.
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.
Avoiding contact with people or things perceived as 'contaminated'.
Symptoms or beliefs spread through a group with no underlying physical cause.
Ideas, behaviors, and attitudes spread through social networks.
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.