Elimination-by-Aspects is cut options by knocking out one attribute at a time, hardest threshold first. It sits in the Cognition dimension (COG) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™ as element HBT-COG-0266, within the Decision family. The core principle: cut options by knocking out one attribute at a time, hardest threshold first. 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
Cut options by knocking out one attribute at a time, hardest threshold first.
Plain-English Definition
Cut options by knocking out one attribute at a time, hardest threshold first.
Feynman Explanation
Speed-dating, with criteria.
Core Principle
Cut options by knocking out one attribute at a time, hardest threshold first.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Cut options by knocking out one attribute at a time, hardest threshold first.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
How executives narrow shortlists in practice.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Speed-dating, with criteria.
Examples
- Apartment hunting: under $X → near transit → no roommates → only three left.
- How executives narrow shortlists in practice.
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: cut options by knocking out one attribute at a time, hardest threshold first. You can recognize it in the field by its signature: speed-dating, with criteria. 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, how executives narrow shortlists in practice. It is amplified whenever how executives narrow shortlists in practice. Inside organizations that shows up as how executives narrow shortlists in practice. 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 be explicit about the order of cuts; the order quietly decides the outcome. Design against it the way you would design against a known failure mode — assume it will appear, and price the exploit before someone finds it.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Be explicit about the order of cuts; the order quietly decides the outcome.
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.
- Be explicit about the order of cuts; the order quietly decides the outcome.
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.
Where Elimination-by-Aspects 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 incentive glossary
Definitions for every mental model, bias, and fallacy in the corpus.
- ReferenceThe Periodic Table of Human Behavior
The full 1,267-element map this page belongs to.
Questions about Elimination-by-Aspects
- What is Elimination-by-Aspects?
- Elimination-by-Aspects is cut options by knocking out one attribute at a time, hardest threshold first. It sits in the Cognition dimension (COG) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™ as element HBT-COG-0266, within the Decision family. The core principle: cut options by knocking out one attribute at a time, hardest threshold first. 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 Elimination-by-Aspects?
- How executives narrow shortlists in practice. The Incentives Lab catalogs everyday, organizational, and historical instances of this element on its Human Behavior Taxonomy™ page (HBT-COG-0266).
- How is Elimination-by-Aspects exploited?
- How executives narrow shortlists in practice.
- How do you design around Elimination-by-Aspects?
- Be explicit about the order of cuts; the order quietly decides the outcome.
- Which behavioral dimension does Elimination-by-Aspects belong to?
- Elimination-by-Aspects is classified in the Cognition dimension (COG) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™, family "Decision", class "Mental Model". Its permanent identifier is HBT-COG-0266 and its evidence grade is B.