Scientific Definition
Introducing an irrelevant topic to distract from the issue.
Plain-English Definition
Introducing an irrelevant topic to distract from the issue.
Feynman Explanation
Pivot the question. Win the room. Lose the year.
Core Principle
Introducing an irrelevant topic to distract from the issue.
Mechanisms
Introducing an irrelevant topic to distract from the issue.
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Inputs (Triggers)
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Outputs (Behaviors)
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Behavioral Signature
Pivot the question. Win the room. Lose the year.
Examples
- Pivoting from 'did we hit our number?' to 'look at this exciting pipeline.'
- Performance conversations sidetracked by adjacent narratives.
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Famous Experiments
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Design Principles
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Measurement Approaches
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Evidence
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The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
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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.
Attacking the person rather than the argument.
It's true because authority says so.
Common sense says so, therefore it's true.
Believing something is true because of the consequences of its truth.
Claiming something is true because it hasn't been proven false (or vice versa).
If it's 'natural,' it's good.
It's better because it's newer.
It's right because it's how we've always done it.
I can't believe it; therefore it isn't true.
Saying it enough times until it sounds true.
It's true because many believe it.
Asking the other side to disprove an unsupported claim.