Scientific Definition
Compliance programs designed to satisfy regulators, not prevent harm.
Plain-English Definition
Compliance programs designed to satisfy regulators, not prevent harm.
Feynman Explanation
Box checked. Risk untouched.
Core Principle
Compliance programs designed to satisfy regulators, not prevent harm.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Compliance programs designed to satisfy regulators, not prevent harm.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Legal cover purchased instead of risk reduction.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Box checked. Risk untouched.
Examples
- Sexual harassment training measured by completion, not outcome.
- Legal cover purchased instead of risk reduction.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Outcome-based compliance metrics. Anonymous reporting trust.
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.
- Outcome-based compliance metrics. Anonymous reporting trust.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
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.
Fixed compliance costs scale punitively for small firms and entrench large ones.
Charging by time rewards inefficiency and prolongs disputes.
Police agencies that keep seized assets gain a direct fiscal interest in seizures.
Stacking fines on low-income defendants creates debt traps and recidivism.
Decisions made to be defensible, not to be right.
Mandatory federal sourcing from prison factories crowds out small business and entrenches inefficient production.
Contingency-fee structures shape which cases get filed.
Fixed sentencing rules remove judicial discretion and inflate incarceration without reducing crime.
Trial penalties pressure even innocent defendants to plead guilty to avoid risk.
Per-inmate funding makes incarceration a budgetary asset for jurisdictions and contractors.
Caseloads far above professional norms guarantee weak defense for the poor.
Confidential settlements buy silence and prevent precedent that would deter future harm.