Scientific Definition
Low expectations produce low performance.
Plain-English Definition
Low expectations produce low performance.
Feynman Explanation
The team you wrote off will not surprise you.
Core Principle
Low expectations produce low performance.
Mechanisms
Low expectations produce low performance.
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Inputs (Triggers)
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Outputs (Behaviors)
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Behavioral Signature
The team you wrote off will not surprise you.
Examples
- Underestimated teams underperform — and the underestimation gets credited.
- Performance ceilings set by managers, not by talent.
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Famous Experiments
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Design Principles
- Treat your expectations as variables, not as fixed truths about people.
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.
- Treat your expectations as variables, not as fixed truths about people.
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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.
Adopting beliefs because the room already did.
Diffused responsibility means nothing happens.
Assuming everyone secretly agrees with us.
One strong trait colors judgment of unrelated traits.
High expectations produce higher performance.
We overweight whoever has the bigger title in the room.
Spending disproportionate energy on trivial decisions.
Once we say it publicly, we'll defend it past the data.
Forgetting what it's like not to know what you know.
Their failure: character. Our failure: situation.
We extend more trust, benefit of the doubt, and rope to 'our people.'
We're more persuaded by people we like.