Scientific Definition
Costly actions that credibly communicate hard-to-observe traits.
Plain-English Definition
Costly actions that credibly communicate hard-to-observe traits.
Feynman Explanation
If anyone could fake it, the signal would already be worthless.
Core Principle
Costly actions that credibly communicate hard-to-observe traits.
Mechanisms
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Inputs (Triggers)
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Outputs (Behaviors)
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Behavioral Signature
If anyone could fake it, the signal would already be worthless.
Examples
- Degrees, certifications, even office locations signal commitment.
- Most premium pricing is a signal first and a margin second.
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Famous Experiments
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Design Principles
- Audit whether your signals cost what they claim to cost.
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.
- Audit whether your signals cost what they claim to cost.
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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.
Signals whose value depends on being expensive to fake.
Asymmetric information attracts the worst counterparties.
A cost or benefit borne by someone outside the transaction.
Clear ownership of outcomes, not just tasks.
We defer to perceived expertise, rank, or uniform.
Vastness that exceeds existing schemas dissolves the self briefly.
Negative feedback returns a system toward a target.
Membership in a group is a baseline human need.
Individually rational choices that produce a collectively bad outcome.
We seek tasks where we feel effective and improving.
Competing loyalties that compromise judgment.
Value is judged against whatever sits next to it.