Scientific Definition
Using an authority's opinion as evidence, regardless of its merits.
Plain-English Definition
Using an authority's opinion as evidence, regardless of its merits.
Feynman Explanation
Expertise in one field does not transfer to every field.
Core Principle
Using an authority's opinion as evidence, regardless of its merits.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Using an authority's opinion as evidence, regardless of its merits.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
HiPPOs (highest paid person's opinions) dominate decisions.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Expertise in one field does not transfer to every field.
Examples
- A famous CEO's opinion on public health is treated as fact.
- HiPPOs (highest paid person's opinions) dominate decisions.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Ask what the authority knows specifically about this question.
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.
- Ask what the authority knows specifically about this question.
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.
Concluding that a claim is false because the argument for it is flawed.
Claiming something is true because it has not been proven false.
Saying it often enough until objections fade.
Drawing a conclusion from the absence of evidence rather than its presence.
Deriving general rules from specific examples; the leap from instance to concept.
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.
Assuming that if one option is true, another must be false, when both can be true.
Presuming a purposeful actor behind events that may have no actor at all.
What cannot be settled by experiment is not worth debating.
A finite set of well-defined instructions for solving a problem or performing a computation.
Every model simplifies reality; some are still useful.