Scientific Definition
Downloading → factual → empathic → generative. Most conversations stop at level one.
Plain-English Definition
Downloading → factual → empathic → generative. Most conversations stop at level one.
Feynman Explanation
If you already know what they're going to say, you're at level one.
Core Principle
Downloading → factual → empathic → generative. Most conversations stop at level one.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Downloading → factual → empathic → generative. Most conversations stop at level one.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Why town halls feel hollow — the room never gets past confirming what everyone already believed.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
If you already know what they're going to say, you're at level one.
Examples
- Scharmer's diagnostic for executive teams stuck in groupthink.
- Why town halls feel hollow — the room never gets past confirming what everyone already believed.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Name the level you're at. Push one level deeper before responding.
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.
- Name the level you're at. Push one level deeper before responding.
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.
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.
We come to like people we've done a favor for, more than people who've helped us.