Scientific Definition
Avoiding contact with people or things perceived as 'contaminated'.
Plain-English Definition
Avoiding contact with people or things perceived as 'contaminated'.
Feynman Explanation
Bad luck, like bad news, is treated as contagious.
Core Principle
Avoiding contact with people or things perceived as 'contaminated'.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Avoiding contact with people or things perceived as 'contaminated'.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Association-based avoidance blocks good opportunities.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Bad luck, like bad news, is treated as contagious.
Examples
- A team avoids a project because a failed leader once touched it.
- Association-based avoidance blocks good opportunities.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Separate the object from its history with evidence.
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.
- Separate the object from its history with evidence.
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.
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.
Systematic errors in explaining the causes of behavior — yours or others'.
Behaviors spread through groups via observation and imitation.
Faces and brands look more appealing in a group than individually.
Giving polite rather than honest answers to avoid offense.
Judging phenomena by the standards of one's own culture.
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.
Sacrificing for others without expecting a personal reward.