Scientific Definition
Mind latches onto the first plausible explanation and resists alternatives.
Plain-English Definition
Mind latches onto the first plausible explanation and resists alternatives.
Feynman Explanation
Munger: 'The mind works like a sperm and an egg — first one in shuts the door.'
Core Principle
Mind latches onto the first plausible explanation and resists alternatives.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Mind latches onto the first plausible explanation and resists alternatives.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Strategy debates frequently calcify around the first plausible framing.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Munger: 'The mind works like a sperm and an egg — first one in shuts the door.'
Examples
- Diagnoses that anchor on the first hypothesis and miss the real cause.
- Strategy debates frequently calcify around the first plausible framing.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Force three named hypotheses before discussion proceeds.
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.
- Force three named hypotheses before discussion proceeds.
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.
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.
Researchers favor conclusions aligned with their school, team, or sponsor.
Relying on examples that come to mind easily, not on actual frequency.
Systematic deviations from rationality in judgment.
Treating multiple data points as independent when they came from one source.
Testing hypotheses only by looking for confirming evidence.
Applying higher scrutiny to evidence we disagree with than to evidence we agree with.
Over-weighting one's own perspective when reconstructing events.
Research outcomes tend to favor the interests of the funders.
Deriving general rules from specific examples; the leap from instance to concept.
Assuming that if one option is true, another must be false, when both can be true.