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Declassified
1,042 / 10,000
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1,042 entries declassified
All 12
Logic 0
Mechanics 0
Numbers 0
Words 0
Bias 1
Decisions 1
Paradox 1
Attention 0
Social Proof 2
Choice 0
Persuasion 1
Platforms 0
Habit 1
Negotiation 1
Pricing 1
Incentives 0
Signals 0
Statistics 1
Scarcity 0
Brand 1
Framing 0
Narrative 0
Naming 0
Rhetoric 1
Rewards 0
Progress 0
Competition 0
Engagement 0
Achievements 0
Priming 0
Emotions 0
Attention Cap. 0
Recall 0
Fatigue 0
Tokenomics 0
Trust 0
Yield 0
Governance 0
Markets 0
Color 0
Sound 0
Touch 0
Scent 0
Space 0
12 / 12
No visual on file
Habit Loops
Entry #0305
A single lapse leaves the developing routine largely intact. What predicts collapse is not the lapse but how the person interprets it.
The hidden part
#0305
A lapse damages the record, not the routine. Collapse follows the interpretation of the lapse, not the lapse itself.
Reveal the hidden insight of Why a missed day matters less than a missed week
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No visual on file
Social Proof
Entry #0210
A norm can hold long after most people have stopped believing in it, because each of them is quietly certain they are the only one.
The hidden part
#0210
Silence is not agreement. It is the cheapest available response, and a norm built on it can be simultaneously unshakeable and unsupported.
Reveal the hidden insight of The reason an unpopular opinion is held by more than admit it
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No visual on file
Paradox & Proof
Entry #0155
In almost every network, most members are less connected than their own contacts are on average. The comparison is rigged by how contacts get sampled.
The hidden part
#0155
Your contacts are a sample weighted by connection count. The comparison is against the well-connected by construction.
Reveal the hidden insight of Why the average person has fewer friends than their friends
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No visual on file
Decision Architecture
Entry #0130
The same decision, taken in one pass or in four, produces different answers. Each completed step becomes the reference point for the next one.
The hidden part
#0130
Sequence sets the reference points. A decision split into steps is a decision compared against itself rather than against a budget.
Reveal the hidden insight of Why splitting a choice into steps changes the outcome
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No visual on file
Cognitive Bias
Entry #0105
A trial does not demonstrate value so much as transfer ownership. Cancelling afterwards is experienced as giving something up, not as declining to buy.
The hidden part
#0105
A trial moves the decision from acquiring to relinquishing. The price stays the same while the question quietly changes.
Reveal the hidden insight of Why a free trial changes what you think a product is worth
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No visual on file
Brand Language
Entry #0480
Natural is among the most valuable words on a label and one of the least defined, and the vacuum is exactly what makes it worth printing.
The hidden part
#0480
The most commercially valuable words are the ones with no agreed test for whether they are true.
Reveal the hidden insight of Why the word natural means less than it implies
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No visual on file
Negotiation Frames
Entry #0330
Meeting in the middle sounds fair, but the middle is computed from the two openings, which hands the result to whoever opened further out.
The hidden part
#0330
A fair-looking rule applied to unfair inputs launders the asymmetry instead of removing it.
Reveal the hidden insight of Why splitting the difference rewards the extreme opener
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No visual on file
Persuasion Systems
Entry #0255
Authority is read off uniforms, titles, desks and clipboards long before any claim is examined, and the signal keeps working when the claim is absent.
The hidden part
#0255
Authority is inferred from props, and props can be acquired far more cheaply than expertise.
Reveal the hidden insight of Why authority is signalled by objects, not arguments
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No visual on file
Statistical Illusions
Entry #0440
A measure requires a definition, and once the measure is consequential the definition becomes something to be managed rather than merely applied.
The hidden part
#0440
A number is a definition applied to the world. Make the number consequential and the definition becomes the thing under negotiation.
Reveal the hidden insight of Why counting something changes what gets counted
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No visual on file
Social Proof
Entry #0215
Writing a review costs effort that only a strong reaction repays. The distribution of published opinion is therefore not the distribution of opinion.
The hidden part
#0215
Reviews sample the strength of reaction, not the population. Volume increases precision about the wrong quantity.
Reveal the hidden insight of Why the loudest reviewer is rarely the typical customer
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No visual on file
Rhetoric & Omission
Entry #0590
Detecting a missing option requires generating it. Nothing in the presented pair points at what is absent, so careful examination of two choices finds two choices.
The hidden part
#0590
A missing option cannot be found by examining the options. It has to be generated by someone who stopped looking at them.
Reveal the hidden insight of Why a false dilemma survives scrutiny
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No visual on file
Price Psychology
Entry #0365
A monthly cycle asks the customer twelve times whether to continue. An annual cycle asks once, and inertia answers on every day in between.
The hidden part
#0365
Retention is not only how much people want to continue. It is how often they are asked to decide.
Reveal the hidden insight of Why an annual plan hides the churn decision
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