Scientific Definition
Wansink's finding that environmental cues — plate size, packaging, lighting — silently drive consumption.
Plain-English Definition
Wansink's finding that environmental cues — plate size, packaging, lighting — silently drive consumption.
Feynman Explanation
We eat the container, not the calorie.
Core Principle
Wansink's finding that environmental cues — plate size, packaging, lighting — silently drive consumption.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Wansink's finding that environmental cues — plate size, packaging, lighting — silently drive consumption.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Same logic governs feature usage, ad placement, and SKU defaults.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
We eat the container, not the calorie.
Examples
- Bigger bowls produce 30% more consumption with no change in reported fullness.
- Same logic governs feature usage, ad placement, and SKU defaults.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Design the container. The contents look after themselves.
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.
- Design the container. The contents look after themselves.
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.
How will I feel about this in 10 minutes / 10 months / 10 years?
Inattention or forgetfulness caused by low attention, hyperfocus, or distraction.
Forgetting to compare an offer with the next-best alternative.
Outcomes that could have happened but did not.
Overthinking a situation so that decision-making stalls.
The first number on the table silently sets the range for every number after it.
Tversky & Kahneman's classic: identical outcomes flip from 'risk averse' to 'risk seeking' when framed as lives saved vs. lives lost.
Our perception is shaped by what we selectively pay attention to.
Favoring suggestions from automated systems over conflicting human judgment.
A color appears different depending on adjacent colors.
Decisions are constrained by available information, cognitive limits, and time.
The ability to focus on one voice in a noisy environment.