Scientific Definition
Throwing more in because we already threw a lot in.
Plain-English Definition
Throwing more in because we already threw a lot in.
Feynman Explanation
We've spent $20M; let's spend $5M more to feel better about the $20M.
Core Principle
Throwing more in because we already threw a lot in.
Mechanisms
Throwing more in because we already threw a lot in.
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Inputs (Triggers)
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Outputs (Behaviors)
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Behavioral Signature
We've spent $20M; let's spend $5M more to feel better about the $20M.
Examples
- Five-year initiative kept alive purely because killing it 'wastes' the spend.
- Portfolios bloated with bets no one would start today.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
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Design Principles
- Ask: 'If we were starting fresh, would we fund this?' Honor the answer.
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.
- Ask: 'If we were starting fresh, would we fund this?' Honor the answer.
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.
Doing something feels safer than doing nothing — even when nothing wins.
Feelings act as shortcuts for facts.
Over-reliance on the first number that hits the table.
Adding a clearly worse option steers people toward the option you wanted.
Whatever is pre-selected wins more often than it should.
We value things more once they're ours.
The same information lands differently depending on how it's wrapped.
We disproportionately prefer rewards now over rewards later.
We overvalue things we built ourselves.
Believing more information leads to better decisions, regardless of relevance.
When trivial metrics become the target, the trivial becomes the strategy.
Losses hurt roughly twice as much as equivalent gains feel good.