Selective Attention is filters what we engage with. It sits in the Cognition dimension (COG) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™ as element HBT-COG-0714, within the Level 2 family. The core principle: filters what we engage with. In incentive terms, it matters because it changes the payoff people perceive before they choose — which means it can be designed for, or exploited.
Scientific Definition
Filters what we engage with
Plain-English Definition
Filters what we engage with
Feynman Explanation
Filters what we engage with
Core Principle
Filters what we engage with
Mechanisms
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Inputs (Triggers)
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Outputs (Behaviors)
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Behavioral Signature
Filters what we engage with
Examples
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Original analysis from The Incentives Lab — how this element behaves inside real payoff structures.
Why this element matters to incentive design
This element is common enough to feel like human nature and specific enough to be engineered around. The mechanism underneath it operates in the Cognition dimension — how do we think?. You can recognize it in the field by its signature: filters what we engage with. Every element in the Cognition dimension changes the perceived payoff of an action before the action happens, which is exactly where incentive design has leverage.
How it gets exploited
Left undesigned, this element is exploited the ordinary way: someone discovers that triggering it is cheaper than earning the outcome it stands in for. The pattern is the same one Goodhart's Law describes: the measurable proxy attracts the effort, and the purpose behind it quietly loses funding.
How the Lab designs around it
The redesign move is to make the desired behavior observable, remove whatever currently pays for its opposite, and attach the reward to the behavior rather than to the noisy outcome downstream of it. Design against it the way you would design against a known failure mode — assume it will appear, and price the exploit before someone finds it.
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
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Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
Design shapes what's seen
Prices & info guide attention
Shapes what millions notice
What stands out captures attention
Aligns attention toward a goal
Tech shapes our focus
We notice things selectively
Humanity learns together
Simplify complex team decisions
Belief systems shape decisions
We interpret through models
We imagine others' minds
Where Selective Attention is cited in the corpus
Essays, field guides, and diagnostics from The Incentives Lab that apply this element.
- EssayGoodhart's Law in the Real World
How measurable proxies capture judgment.
- EssayThe Perverse Incentives Hiding in Your KPIs
Cognitive shortcuts turned into scorecards.
- ReferenceThe incentive glossary
Definitions for every mental model, bias, and fallacy in the corpus.
- ReferenceThe Periodic Table of Human Behavior
The full 1,267-element map this page belongs to.
Questions about Selective Attention
- What is Selective Attention?
- Selective Attention is filters what we engage with. It sits in the Cognition dimension (COG) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™ as element HBT-COG-0714, within the Level 2 family. The core principle: filters what we engage with. In incentive terms, it matters because it changes the payoff people perceive before they choose — which means it can be designed for, or exploited.
- How is Selective Attention exploited?
- It is exploited when triggering the behavior becomes cheaper than producing the outcome the behavior is supposed to signal — the standard perverse-incentive path.
- How do you design around Selective Attention?
- Name the behavior you want in observable terms, remove what currently pays for the opposite, attach the reward to the behavior rather than a lagging proxy, and publish how you will detect gaming.
- Which behavioral dimension does Selective Attention belong to?
- Selective Attention is classified in the Cognition dimension (COG) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™, family "Level 2", class "Behavioral Force". Its permanent identifier is HBT-COG-0714 and its evidence grade is B.