Scientific Definition
Ignoring the size of a sample or population in our judgments.
Plain-English Definition
Ignoring the size of a sample or population in our judgments.
Feynman Explanation
One vivid story beats a thousand silent ones.
Core Principle
Ignoring the size of a sample or population in our judgments.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Ignoring the size of a sample or population in our judgments.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Decision weight should scale with sample weight. Often doesn't.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
One vivid story beats a thousand silent ones.
Examples
- Reacting to a single customer complaint the same as to a survey of thousands.
- Decision weight should scale with sample weight. Often doesn't.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Always note 'how many?' before reacting to 'what?'
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.
- Always note 'how many?' before reacting to 'what?'
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.
Remembering more context around a scene than was actually present.
Deriving general rules from specific examples; the leap from instance to concept.
The brain evolved to reason adaptively, not always truthfully, to reduce the cost of errors.
We solve problems by adding, even when subtracting would be better.
Assuming that if one option is true, another must be false, when both can be true.
Presuming a purposeful actor behind events that may have no actor at all.
What cannot be settled by experiment is not worth debating.
A finite set of well-defined instructions for solving a problem or performing a computation.
Every model simplifies reality; some are still useful.
Researchers favor conclusions aligned with their school, team, or sponsor.
Using personal stories or isolated examples instead of evidence.
Claiming something is true or better because most people believe it.