Scientific Definition
Customers become trapped in a product due to switching costs or network effects.
Plain-English Definition
Customers become trapped in a product due to switching costs or network effects.
Feynman Explanation
The hotel is fine. The door just does not open from the inside.
Core Principle
Customers become trapped in a product due to switching costs or network effects.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Customers become trapped in a product due to switching costs or network effects.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Lock-in creates profits but also resentment.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
The hotel is fine. The door just does not open from the inside.
Examples
- Enterprise software that is hard to replace because of custom integrations.
- Lock-in creates profits but also resentment.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Be transparent about switching costs and deliver value that earns loyalty.
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.
- Be transparent about switching costs and deliver value that earns loyalty.
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.
Owning something raises its valuation — sellers want more to give it up than buyers will pay to acquire.
Demand for a good drops as more people own it.
Demand rises with price because the price itself signals status.
Exploiting price differences between markets for risk-free profit.
The study of how real humans actually decide — bounded, social, emotional, and inconsistent.
With clear property rights and low transaction costs, parties negotiate to efficient outcomes.
Specialize in what you give up the least to do.
Complements raise each other's value; substitutes lower it.
Fixed costs don't scale with output; variable costs do.
Innovation destroys old industries and creates new ones.
Each additional unit produces less marginal benefit.
A long-run planner self in conflict with a short-run impulsive self.