Filtered dossier

Master

Clearance level 3.

  • 12 / 12
  • No visual on file
    Naming & Sound Entry #0565

    Why a name that sounds foreign raises the price

    An unfamiliar name cannot be read as ordinary, and the effort of processing it gets attributed to the product rather than to the word.

    Master
    The hidden part #0565

    An unfamiliar name is processed slowly, and the slowness is credited to the product. The buyer reports texture and means orthography.

    Open file
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    Market Signals Entry #0424

    The reason a certification matters more in opaque markets

    Where buyers can inspect, a badge adds nothing. Its value comes entirely from the inspection it stands in for, and rises as inspection gets harder.

    Master
    The hidden part #0424

    A badge is worth exactly what the inspection it replaces would have been worth. Where the buyer could just look, it is worth nothing.

    Open file
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    Market Signals Entry #0420

    The reason a founder’s departure is read before it is explained

    The statement arrives with the news, and the market ignores it. What an informed party does is treated as evidence; what they say is not.

    Master
    The hidden part #0420

    A departure is a costly action by the best-informed party. The statement attached to it is free, and free statements are filtered out on arrival.

    Open file
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    Incentive Design Entry #0399

    The reason a leaderboard demotivates the middle

    A ranking motivates whoever can plausibly move on it. For everyone whose position is settled, it removes the reason to try at all.

    Master
    The hidden part #0399

    A ranking motivates only where position is contestable. For the settled middle it publishes the news that effort will not change the outcome.

    Open file
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    Incentive Design Entry #0395

    The reason an unmeasured task disappears

    Effort is allocated across tasks that compete for the same hours. Measuring one of them does not add attention; it moves attention off the others.

    Master
    The hidden part #0395

    Measuring one task does not create effort. It withdraws it from whatever was competing, and the loss is invisible because unmeasured work has no series to fall.

    Open file
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    Habit Loops Entry #0324

    The reason substitution beats subtraction

    Stopping a habit does not delete the cue that started it. The trigger keeps firing on schedule and will find whichever response is nearest.

    Master
    The hidden part #0324

    Ending a habit removes a response, not the cue that requested it. An unanswered cue does not stop asking; it accepts the nearest substitute.

    Open file
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    Habit Loops Entry #0320

    The reason habits form fastest under mild stress

    Moderate pressure shifts control from deliberate evaluation towards practised response. That is efficient, and it also means whatever is practised gets installed faster.

    Master
    The hidden part #0320

    Pressure does not build discipline. It transfers control to whatever is already practised, and it is indifferent to what that is.

    Open file
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    Framing Effects Entry #0524

    The reason a first sentence frames an entire report

    Early material does not merely arrive first. It supplies the structure that later material is filed into, and filing is harder to undo than reading.

    Master
    The hidden part #0524

    The opening does not compete with the body. It decides which reading each ambiguous finding in the body receives.

    Open file
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    Framing Effects Entry #0520

    The reason a benefit framed as recovering a loss converts better

    Stop losing four hours a week outperforms gain four hours a week. The hours are the same; only the position they are measured from has moved.

    Master
    The hidden part #0520

    The frame does not describe the offer. It installs the baseline the offer will be measured from, and repairs feel more urgent than upgrades.

    Open file
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    Decision Architecture Entry #0149

    The reason a plan survives contact with nobody

    A plan announced publicly acquires a defender before it acquires evidence. Announcing it also delivers part of the satisfaction that completing it was meant to supply.

    Master
    The hidden part #0149

    A published plan gains a defender before it gains evidence, and the announcement already paid out part of the reward.

    Open file
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    Decision Architecture Entry #0145

    The reason a bundled price stops comparison

    A single figure covering several items cannot be checked line by line. Comparison requires prices for the parts, and the bundle exists to withhold them.

    Master
    The hidden part #0145

    A bundle discloses the total honestly and withholds the only prices you could have checked. Nothing is hidden at the level you can see.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Choice Design Entry #0249

    The reason a countdown on a form is a design choice

    A timer on a screen reports nothing about the world. Someone selected the duration, and often the timer resets for the next visitor with a fresh number.

    Master
    The hidden part #0249

    A truthful countdown and a fabricated one render identically. That is what makes the honest one worthless as evidence.

    Open file