Scientific Definition
A developmental model of human value systems (vMemes) emerging in response to life conditions.
Plain-English Definition
A developmental model of human value systems (vMemes) emerging in response to life conditions.
Feynman Explanation
It's not what people think. It's how they're thinking — and that evolves as conditions change.
Core Principle
A developmental model of human value systems (vMemes) emerging in response to life conditions.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
A developmental model of human value systems (vMemes) emerging in response to life conditions.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Misdiagnosing a team's value system produces transformation programs that work on paper and fail in the room.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
It's not what people think. It's how they're thinking — and that evolves as conditions change.
Examples
- Beck & Cowan's synthesis of Clare Graves's research; widely used in organizational change.
- Misdiagnosing a team's value system produces transformation programs that work on paper and fail in the room.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Identify the dominant vMeme before designing the intervention. Match the message to the level.
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.
- Identify the dominant vMeme before designing the intervention. Match the message to the level.
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.
Cultures vary in how strictly norms are enforced and deviance punished.
Each value system (Beige through Green) believes itself to be the only valid one and dismisses the others.
The relative weight a culture gives to individual goals vs. group cohesion.
The combination of historical, social, and existential pressures that activates the next vMeme.
How much hierarchical inequality a culture accepts as normal.
Yellow and Turquoise vMemes — first systems that recognize the legitimacy of all earlier value systems.
Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic — a tiny, atypical psychological sample.
People stay quiet when they sense their view is minority — even when it isn't.
How will I feel about this in 10 minutes / 10 months / 10 years?
Basics first (health/finances), then depth (mastery/impact), then altruism (widening circle).
A group decides on a course of action that nobody actually wants, because everyone assumes others prefer it.
Inattention or forgetfulness caused by low attention, hyperfocus, or distraction.