Scientific Definition
Preferences aren't retrieved from a stable internal list — they're built on the spot from cues, context, and the elicitation method.
Plain-English Definition
Preferences aren't retrieved from a stable internal list — they're built on the spot from cues, context, and the elicitation method.
Feynman Explanation
Ask the same person the same question two different ways; meet two different people.
Core Principle
Preferences aren't retrieved from a stable internal list — they're built on the spot from cues, context, and the elicitation method.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Preferences aren't retrieved from a stable internal list — they're built on the spot from cues, context, and the elicitation method.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pricing pages, survey design, and any place a user 'tells you' what they want.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Ask the same person the same question two different ways; meet two different people.
Examples
- Slovic, Payne, Bettman: framing, ordering, and elicitation format change the 'true' preference.
- Pricing pages, survey design, and any place a user 'tells you' what they want.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Test multiple framings. The first one isn't truth — it's the one you happened to try.
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.
- Test multiple framings. The first one isn't truth — it's the one you happened to try.
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.
How will I feel about this in 10 minutes / 10 months / 10 years?
Inattention or forgetfulness caused by low attention, hyperfocus, or distraction.
Forgetting to compare an offer with the next-best alternative.
Outcomes that could have happened but did not.
Overthinking a situation so that decision-making stalls.
The first number on the table silently sets the range for every number after it.
Tversky & Kahneman's classic: identical outcomes flip from 'risk averse' to 'risk seeking' when framed as lives saved vs. lives lost.
Our perception is shaped by what we selectively pay attention to.
Favoring suggestions from automated systems over conflicting human judgment.
A color appears different depending on adjacent colors.
Decisions are constrained by available information, cognitive limits, and time.
The ability to focus on one voice in a noisy environment.