Scientific Definition
A symmetric bell-shaped distribution where most values cluster around the mean.
Plain-English Definition
A symmetric bell-shaped distribution where most values cluster around the mean.
Feynman Explanation
The world is normal, except when it is not.
Core Principle
A symmetric bell-shaped distribution where most values cluster around the mean.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
A symmetric bell-shaped distribution where most values cluster around the mean.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Many business variables are not normal; assuming they are is dangerous.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
The world is normal, except when it is not.
Examples
- Human heights are roughly normally distributed.
- Many business variables are not normal; assuming they are is dangerous.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Check for fat tails and outliers before using normal assumptions.
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.
- Check for fat tails and outliers before using normal assumptions.
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.
Unwritten rules of behavior — descriptive (what people do) or injunctive (what people approve of).
Earned authority from publishing original frameworks that other operators adopt as their own.
Combine extreme safety with extreme risk; avoid the middle.
Game theory adjusted for how humans actually play — including fairness, reciprocity, and limited reasoning.
Allocating finite resources across many fronts when the opponent does the same — no dominant strategy exists.
Coordinated action that produces outcomes unavailable to individual actors.
Unconscious psychological strategies that protect self-image.
Designing organizations to ride doubling curves — AI, data, compute, biotech — rather than linear improvement.
Decisions depend on what other strategic actors will do.
Individual rationality produces collective irrationality.
Players choose how much to contribute to a shared pot; selfish theory predicts zero, real humans contribute, and punishment of free-riders sustains cooperation.
Responding in kind — favors for favors, harms for harms.