Disliking/Hating Tendency is we dismiss the ideas and merits of people we dislike. It sits in the Cognition dimension (COG) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™ as element HBT-COG-0242, within the Social family. The core principle: we dismiss the ideas and merits of people we dislike. In incentive terms, it matters because it changes the payoff people perceive before they choose — which means it can be designed for, or exploited.
Scientific Definition
We dismiss the ideas and merits of people we dislike.
Plain-English Definition
We dismiss the ideas and merits of people we dislike.
Feynman Explanation
The messenger doesn't change the message — but we let it.
Core Principle
We dismiss the ideas and merits of people we dislike.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
We dismiss the ideas and merits of people we dislike.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Information from disliked people is systematically devalued.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
The messenger doesn't change the message — but we let it.
Examples
- A correct objection ignored because the source is disliked.
- Information from disliked people is systematically devalued.
Pending editorial review.
Original analysis from The Incentives Lab — how this element behaves inside real payoff structures.
Why this element matters to incentive design
When this element shows up in a diagnostic, the instinct is to train people out of it. Training rarely moves it. The mechanism underneath it is straightforward: we dismiss the ideas and merits of people we dislike. You can recognize it in the field by its signature: the messenger doesn't change the message — but we let it. Every element in the Cognition dimension changes the perceived payoff of an action before the action happens, which is exactly where incentive design has leverage.
How it gets exploited
Left undesigned, information from disliked people is systematically devalued. It is amplified whenever information from disliked people is systematically devalued. Inside organizations that shows up as information from disliked people is systematically devalued. The pattern is the same one Goodhart's Law describes: the measurable proxy attracts the effort, and the purpose behind it quietly loses funding.
How the Lab designs around it
The redesign move is to evaluate ideas on a separate axis from their source. The test of any redesign here is simple: after the change, can you name what the organization is now doing less of? If not, the payoff structure did not actually move.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Evaluate ideas on a separate axis from their source.
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.
- Evaluate ideas on a separate axis from their source.
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 measure ourselves against peers, not against our past selves.
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.
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.
Sacrificing for others without expecting a personal reward.
Masking the sponsors of a message to make it appear grassroots.
Disagreement grows more extreme as the parties think more about the issue.
Systematic errors in explaining the causes of behavior — yours or others'.
We accept vague, general statements as personally meaningful.
Adding the word 'because' (with any reason) increases compliance dramatically.
Behaviors spread through groups via observation and imitation.
Where Disliking/Hating Tendency is cited in the corpus
Essays, field guides, and diagnostics from The Incentives Lab that apply this element.
- EssayGoodhart's Law in the Real World
How measurable proxies capture judgment.
- EssayThe Perverse Incentives Hiding in Your KPIs
Cognitive shortcuts turned into scorecards.
- EssayAI Agents Inherit Your Incentives
How this element propagates into automated systems.
- ReferenceThe Periodic Table of Human Behavior
The full 1,267-element map this page belongs to.
- ReferenceThe incentive glossary
Definitions for every mental model, bias, and fallacy in the corpus.
Questions about Disliking/Hating Tendency
- What is Disliking/Hating Tendency?
- Disliking/Hating Tendency is we dismiss the ideas and merits of people we dislike. It sits in the Cognition dimension (COG) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™ as element HBT-COG-0242, within the Social family. The core principle: we dismiss the ideas and merits of people we dislike. In incentive terms, it matters because it changes the payoff people perceive before they choose — which means it can be designed for, or exploited.
- What is an example of Disliking/Hating Tendency?
- Information from disliked people is systematically devalued. The Incentives Lab catalogs everyday, organizational, and historical instances of this element on its Human Behavior Taxonomy™ page (HBT-COG-0242).
- How is Disliking/Hating Tendency exploited?
- Information from disliked people is systematically devalued.
- How do you design around Disliking/Hating Tendency?
- Evaluate ideas on a separate axis from their source.
- Which behavioral dimension does Disliking/Hating Tendency belong to?
- Disliking/Hating Tendency is classified in the Cognition dimension (COG) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™, family "Social", class "Mental Model". Its permanent identifier is HBT-COG-0242 and its evidence grade is B.