Scientific Definition
Negative emotions fade faster than positive ones.
Plain-English Definition
Negative emotions fade faster than positive ones.
Feynman Explanation
The good old days were less good than you remember.
Core Principle
Negative emotions fade faster than positive ones.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Negative emotions fade faster than positive ones.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Risk calibration drifts as old pain fades.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
The good old days were less good than you remember.
Examples
- Past company crises get re-described as 'character-building'.
- Risk calibration drifts as old pain fades.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Maintain a written log of past failures. Re-read before similar decisions.
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.
- Maintain a written log of past failures. Re-read before similar decisions.
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.
Emotional states distort cognition and decision-making.
Predicting how we will feel in the future, usually inaccurately.
Dacher Keltner's research: the emotion of encountering vastness reliably reduces self-focus and inflammation, and increases prosociality.
The drive to explore and understand for its own sake.
When the limbic system overrides higher cognition and behavior follows ancient circuits, not chosen values.
The capacity to recognize, understand, and manage emotions — your own and others'.
A strategy to influence behavior by amplifying fear and uncertainty.
Effects of an intervention spread to other areas beyond the intended target.
The brain evolved to reason adaptively, not always truthfully, to reduce the cost of errors.
We solve problems by adding, even when subtracting would be better.
Researchers favor conclusions aligned with their school, team, or sponsor.
Relying on examples that come to mind easily, not on actual frequency.