Behavioral Economics & Brain Science — Expansion
49 terms across 15 themes — every definition in the Atlas sourced from this manual, with executive examples and counter-moves.
Subcortical structures that store and execute habits and procedural skills.
Approach motivation — pursuit of rewards and goals.
Avoidance motivation — sensitivity to punishment, uncertainty, and threat.
Faces and brands look more appealing in a group than individually.
Psychological distance shifts thinking between abstract and concrete.
Cultures vary in how strictly norms are enforced and deviance punished.
One new possession spirals into a cascade of complementary purchases.
Responsibility dilutes across a group until it disappears.
Giving someone artificial early progress increases the chance they finish.
Vague personality descriptions feel uniquely accurate.
Temporal landmarks (Monday, January, birthday) trigger new behavior attempts.
How vividly we connect to our future self predicts long-term decision quality.
What people expect of themselves shapes what they achieve.
The brain's overnight cleaning system; clears metabolic waste during sleep.
Effort accelerates as the goal gets closer.
Brain structure central to memory formation, spatial navigation, and learning.
One negative trait taints judgment of everything else about a person or company.
We act in ways that confirm 'people like me do things like this.'
We believe we understand others better than they understand us.
If-then plans dramatically increase follow-through on intentions.
The relative weight a culture gives to individual goals vs. group cohesion.
The sense of the internal state of the body — heartbeat, hunger, tension.
A single habit whose adoption cascades into many other behavior changes.
Contrast vivid future success with concrete present obstacles to drive action.
Knowing what you know — and how confidently you know it.
Insulation of neural pathways speeds signal transmission with practice.
We construct a coherent life story; that story shapes future decisions.
New neurons are formed in the adult brain, especially the hippocampus.
Key node of the brain's reward circuit; tracks anticipation of rewards.
Interrupted tasks generate a pull to resume them.
Everyone privately disagrees with a norm but believes everyone else accepts it.
Vivid images of who we could become drive present-day effort.
How much hierarchical inequality a culture accepts as normal.
Competent people become more likable after a small visible mistake.
Brain region for planning, impulse control, and executive function.
The sense of where the body is in space.
Distance in time, space, social relation, or hypotheticality changes judgment.
Thinking about yourself in the third person reduces emotional reactivity and improves judgment.
A 'good' act gives moral permission for a later 'bad' one.
Demand for a good drops as more people own it.
People stay quiet when they sense their view is minority — even when it isn't.
A point in time that feels meaningfully separate from before — and invites new behavior.
Start absurdly small, anchor to an existing routine, celebrate immediately.
Major nerve of the parasympathetic system; regulates calm, social engagement, and recovery.
Demand rises with price because the price itself signals status.
Source of dopamine signals projecting to reward and motivation circuits.
Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic — a tiny, atypical psychological sample.
Wish → Outcome → Obstacle → Plan. A goal-setting protocol from Oettingen.
Unfinished tasks stick in working memory more than completed ones.