Scientific Definition
Psychological stress from holding contradictory beliefs; usually resolved by changing the easier one.
Plain-English Definition
Psychological stress from holding contradictory beliefs; usually resolved by changing the easier one.
Feynman Explanation
When facts disagree with identity, identity wins.
Core Principle
Psychological stress from holding contradictory beliefs; usually resolved by changing the easier one.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Psychological stress from holding contradictory beliefs; usually resolved by changing the easier one.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Most strategic errors persist because reversing them is dissonance-painful.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
When facts disagree with identity, identity wins.
Examples
- Doubling down on a wrong decision because admitting error is more painful.
- Most strategic errors persist because reversing them is dissonance-painful.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Make admitting-wrong cheap; make persisting-wrong expensive.
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.
- Make admitting-wrong cheap; make persisting-wrong expensive.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
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.
Systematic deviations from rationality in judgment.
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.
Presuming a purposeful actor behind events that may have no actor at all.
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.