Scientific Definition
Complements raise each other's value; substitutes lower it.
Plain-English Definition
Complements raise each other's value; substitutes lower it.
Feynman Explanation
Find your complement. Avoid being someone's substitute.
Core Principle
Complements raise each other's value; substitutes lower it.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Complements raise each other's value; substitutes lower it.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Strategic positioning is largely about which side of this you're on.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Find your complement. Avoid being someone's substitute.
Examples
- Cloud + AI are complements; horse + car were substitutes.
- Strategic positioning is largely about which side of this you're on.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Map every key partner and competitor as complement or substitute.
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.
- Map every key partner and competitor as complement or substitute.
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.
Exploiting price differences between markets for risk-free profit.
The study of how real humans actually decide — bounded, social, emotional, and inconsistent.
With clear property rights and low transaction costs, parties negotiate to efficient outcomes.
Specialize in what you give up the least to do.
Fixed costs don't scale with output; variable costs do.
Innovation destroys old industries and creates new ones.
Each additional unit produces less marginal benefit.
A long-run planner self in conflict with a short-run impulsive self.
Owning something raises its valuation — sellers want more to give it up than buyers will pay to acquire.
Bad money drives out good when both are legally equivalent.
The mythical fully rational, self-interested, utility-maximizing agent neoclassical models assume.
One party has more or better information than another.