Scientific Definition
One party's gain is exactly another party's loss.
Plain-English Definition
One party's gain is exactly another party's loss.
Feynman Explanation
For me to win, you must lose. A cramped worldview.
Core Principle
One party's gain is exactly another party's loss.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
One party's gain is exactly another party's loss.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Most business is positive-sum; zero-sum framing limits value creation.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
For me to win, you must lose. A cramped worldview.
Examples
- A negotiation framed as dividing a fixed pie.
- Most business is positive-sum; zero-sum framing limits value creation.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Look for integrative solutions that expand the pie.
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.
- Look for integrative solutions that expand the pie.
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.
Game theory adjusted for how humans actually play — including fairness, reciprocity, and limited reasoning.
Decisions depend on what other strategic actors will do.
Combine extreme safety with extreme risk; avoid the middle.
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.
Designing organizations to ride doubling curves — AI, data, compute, biotech — rather than linear improvement.
Individual rationality produces collective irrationality.
Causal chain from inputs to outputs to outcomes to impact.
Start cooperative; copy your counterpart's last move thereafter.
Where, how, what — in that order.
Players choose how much to contribute to a shared pot; selfish theory predicts zero, real humans contribute, and punishment of free-riders sustains cooperation.
Decision-makers should bear the consequences of their decisions.