Scientific Definition
We prefer stories over raw facts, even when the story is misleading.
Plain-English Definition
We prefer stories over raw facts, even when the story is misleading.
Feynman Explanation
We remember the plot, not the data.
Core Principle
We prefer stories over raw facts, even when the story is misleading.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
We prefer stories over raw facts, even when the story is misleading.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Narratives drive fundraising, hiring, and strategy more than spreadsheets do.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
We remember the plot, not the data.
Examples
- A founder's compelling story masks weak unit economics.
- Narratives drive fundraising, hiring, and strategy more than spreadsheets do.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Separate the story from the evidence supporting it.
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.
- Separate the story from the evidence supporting it.
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.
We construct a coherent life story; that story shapes future decisions.
Order, discipline, hierarchy, principle, and rule-based value system. The 'right way' to do things.
The communitarian, egalitarian, consensus-seeking value system. Emerged strongly post-1960s.
The achievement-driven, rational, strategic, market-oriented value system. Most of Western corporate life.
Egocentric, power-driven, immediate-gratification value system. The will to dominate.
A value system — a structured way of making meaning that emerges at a particular life-condition stage.
The integrative, systemic, flexible value system — the first of second-tier.
Using personal stories or isolated examples instead of evidence.
Concluding that a claim is false because the argument for it is flawed.
Assuming qualities of one thing transfer to another because they are associated.
Drawing conclusions about individuals from group-level data.
Assuming something exists because we can name or define it.