Scientific Definition
We overestimate how much others understand our thoughts and feelings.
Plain-English Definition
We overestimate how much others understand our thoughts and feelings.
Feynman Explanation
You think they know what you mean. They do not.
Core Principle
We overestimate how much others understand our thoughts and feelings.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
We overestimate how much others understand our thoughts and feelings.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Communication is harder than it feels.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
You think they know what you mean. They do not.
Examples
- A leader assumes their vision is clear, but employees are confused.
- Communication is harder than it feels.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Ask for paraphrase-back before assuming a message landed.
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.
- Ask for paraphrase-back before assuming a message landed.
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.
We believe we understand others better than they understand us.
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.