Scientific Definition
Ideas, behaviors, and attitudes spread through social networks.
Plain-English Definition
Ideas, behaviors, and attitudes spread through social networks.
Feynman Explanation
Networks transmit more than messages.
Core Principle
Ideas, behaviors, and attitudes spread through social networks.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Ideas, behaviors, and attitudes spread through social networks.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Network structure shapes strategic outcomes as much as content.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Networks transmit more than messages.
Examples
- Quiet quitting, return-to-office sentiment, AI adoption — all socially contagious.
- Network structure shapes strategic outcomes as much as content.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Map influence networks. Trends seed at hubs.
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.
- Map influence networks. Trends seed at hubs.
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.
Behaviors spread through groups via observation and imitation.
Avoiding contact with people or things perceived as 'contaminated'.
Symptoms or beliefs spread through a group with no underlying physical cause.
A group decides on a course of action that nobody actually wants, because everyone assumes others prefer it.
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
We attribute our own actions to situations but others' actions to their character.
We favor people who are similar to us or who like us.
Sacrificing for others without expecting a personal reward.
Masking the sponsors of a message to make it appear grassroots.
Disagreement grows more extreme as the parties think more about the issue.
Systematic errors in explaining the causes of behavior — yours or others'.
We accept vague, general statements as personally meaningful.