Global Cooperation is work together for the whole. It sits in the Social dimension (SOC) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™ as element HBT-SOC-0041, within the Level 7 family. The core principle: work together for the whole. In incentive terms, it matters because it changes the payoff people perceive before they choose — which means it can be designed for, or exploited.
Scientific Definition
Work together for the whole
Plain-English Definition
Work together for the whole
Feynman Explanation
Work together for the whole
Core Principle
Work together for the whole
Mechanisms
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Inputs (Triggers)
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Outputs (Behaviors)
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Behavioral Signature
Work together for the whole
Examples
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Original analysis from The Incentives Lab — how this element behaves inside real payoff structures.
Why this element matters to incentive design
Executives usually notice this element only after it has cost something. By then it looks like a one-off. It is not. The mechanism underneath it operates in the Social dimension — how do people influence one another?. You can recognize it in the field by its signature: work together for the whole. Every element in the Social dimension changes the perceived payoff of an action before the action happens, which is exactly where incentive design has leverage.
How it gets exploited
Left undesigned, this element is exploited the ordinary way: someone discovers that triggering it is cheaper than earning the outcome it stands in for. The pattern is the same one Goodhart's Law describes: the measurable proxy attracts the effort, and the purpose behind it quietly loses funding.
How the Lab designs around it
The redesign move is to make the desired behavior observable, remove whatever currently pays for its opposite, and attach the reward to the behavior rather than to the noisy outcome downstream of it. Treat it as infrastructure. Once you can see it in your own system, most of the argument about culture resolves itself.
Famous Experiments
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Design Principles
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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.
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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.
Draws us together
Shapes how we see ourselves
Seeks connection and safety
We notice things selectively
We overweight whoever has the bigger title in the room.
Adopting beliefs because the room already did.
Game theory adjusted for how humans actually play — including fairness, reciprocity, and limited reasoning.
Spending disproportionate energy on trivial decisions.
Diffused responsibility means nothing happens.
Systems that shape our future
Complex adaptive systems
Unites millions around ideas
Where Global Cooperation is cited in the corpus
Essays, field guides, and diagnostics from The Incentives Lab that apply this element.
- EssayYour Best People Are Optimizing Against You
Social proof and internal competition.
- DiagnosticCultural Performance Audit™
How revealed group behavior is measured.
- ReferenceThe Periodic Table of Human Behavior
The full 1,267-element map this page belongs to.
- CourseIncentives 101
The free ten-part primer on reading a payoff structure.
Questions about Global Cooperation
- What is Global Cooperation?
- Global Cooperation is work together for the whole. It sits in the Social dimension (SOC) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™ as element HBT-SOC-0041, within the Level 7 family. The core principle: work together for the whole. In incentive terms, it matters because it changes the payoff people perceive before they choose — which means it can be designed for, or exploited.
- How is Global Cooperation exploited?
- It is exploited when triggering the behavior becomes cheaper than producing the outcome the behavior is supposed to signal — the standard perverse-incentive path.
- How do you design around Global Cooperation?
- Name the behavior you want in observable terms, remove what currently pays for the opposite, attach the reward to the behavior rather than a lagging proxy, and publish how you will detect gaming.
- Which behavioral dimension does Global Cooperation belong to?
- Global Cooperation is classified in the Social dimension (SOC) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™, family "Level 7", class "Behavioral Force". Its permanent identifier is HBT-SOC-0041 and its evidence grade is B.