Scientific Definition
Signals whose value depends on being expensive to fake.
Plain-English Definition
Signals whose value depends on being expensive to fake.
Feynman Explanation
Cheap talk explains nothing about why peacocks have tails.
Core Principle
Signals whose value depends on being expensive to fake.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Cheap talk explains nothing about why peacocks have tails.
Examples
- Founders putting their own capital in alongside investors.
- Refundable guarantees are weak signals; non-refundable ones are strong.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Tie signals to outcomes that can't be costlessly reversed.
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.
- Tie signals to outcomes that can't be costlessly reversed.
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.
Costly actions that credibly communicate hard-to-observe traits.
Asymmetric information attracts the worst counterparties.
A cost or benefit borne by someone outside the transaction.
Clear ownership of outcomes, not just tasks.
We defer to perceived expertise, rank, or uniform.
Vastness that exceeds existing schemas dissolves the self briefly.
Negative feedback returns a system toward a target.
Membership in a group is a baseline human need.
Individually rational choices that produce a collectively bad outcome.
We seek tasks where we feel effective and improving.
Competing loyalties that compromise judgment.
Value is judged against whatever sits next to it.