Scientific Definition
A small number of items account for most of the value.
Plain-English Definition
A small number of items account for most of the value.
Feynman Explanation
Normal distributions are the exception, not the rule.
Core Principle
A small number of items account for most of the value.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
A small number of items account for most of the value.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Don't manage power-law businesses like normal-distribution ones.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Normal distributions are the exception, not the rule.
Examples
- Venture returns. Wealth. Content engagement.
- Don't manage power-law businesses like normal-distribution ones.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Find your power law before designing your incentives.
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.
- Find your power law before designing your incentives.
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 relationship where a small number of inputs account for most outputs.
Ignoring general statistics in favor of specific, vivid information.
Posterior = (likelihood × prior) / evidence.
Update beliefs in proportion to the strength of new evidence.
Start with a prior; update with new evidence.
Novices experiencing early success, often due to variance and small samples.
High-impact, hard-to-predict, retrospectively explainable events.
Striking pattern that is statistically expected in large samples.
Reasoning in distributions — ranges and probabilities — rather than points.
Average outcomes across the population differ from outcomes across time for one person.
A rough calculation using order-of-magnitude reasoning.
In quantum mechanics, certain pairs of properties cannot both be precisely known.