Scientific Definition
Using a word with two meanings as if it meant one.
Plain-English Definition
Using a word with two meanings as if it meant one.
Feynman Explanation
'Strategic' is doing a lot of work in that sentence — and it's doing two different jobs at once.
Core Principle
Using a word with two meanings as if it meant one.
Mechanisms
Using a word with two meanings as if it meant one.
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Inputs (Triggers)
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Outputs (Behaviors)
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Behavioral Signature
'Strategic' is doing a lot of work in that sentence — and it's doing two different jobs at once.
Examples
- 'Investment' meaning capital expenditure in one slide and emotional commitment in the next.
- Strategy memos that sound coherent because the key word shifts meaning quietly.
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Famous Experiments
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Design Principles
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Measurement Approaches
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Evidence
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The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
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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.
Words chosen to bias the audience toward a conclusion.
A question with a built-in unproven assumption.
A phrase that ends thought rather than advancing it.
Attacking the person rather than the argument.
If A then B; B happened; therefore A.
A single story used as proof of a general claim.
It's true because authority says so.
Common sense says so, therefore it's true.
Believing something is true because of the consequences of its truth.
Substituting feeling for argument.
Using fear instead of evidence.
Claiming something is true because it hasn't been proven false (or vice versa).