Filtered dossier

Hidden Logic

Ideas that behave differently than they look.

  • 12 / 12
  • No visual on file
    Decision Architecture Entry #0142

    Why a signature at the top beats one at the bottom

    A signature at the end certifies statements already written. A signature at the start makes honesty salient while there is still something to be honest about.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0142

    An oath taken after the answers can only confirm them. Taken before, it is present while the answers are still being decided.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Decision Architecture Entry #0140

    Why the checkbox already ticked is the business model

    A pre-ticked box does not persuade anyone. It converts consent from something obtained into something not withdrawn, and inattention supplies the difference.

    Master
    The hidden part #0140

    The default is not a suggestion. It is the answer given by everyone who does not answer.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Decision Architecture Entry #0139

    The reason a countdown changes what counts as enough information

    Under time pressure the decision rule shifts. The threshold for sufficient evidence drops, and the drop goes unnoticed because certainty does not drop with it.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0139

    Time pressure does not make people less certain on less evidence. It lowers the evidence needed to feel certain.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Decision Architecture Entry #0137

    The reason you accept a worse deal when you chose the shortlist

    Selecting the options feels like authorship of the outcome. Ownership of the shortlist transfers to the choice made from it, whatever the shortlist excluded.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0137

    Whoever writes the shortlist makes the decision. Whoever picks from it gets the feeling of having made it.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Cognitive Bias Entry #0119

    Why a warning label can make a product seem safer

    A disclosed risk is read as evidence of candour. The reader discounts the stated hazard and quietly upgrades their trust in everything left unstated.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0119

    A small admitted risk is not a confession. It is a credential, and the reader charges the rest of the page against it.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Cognitive Bias Entry #0118

    The reason you see the pattern only after somebody names it

    The pattern was always in front of you. A name gives it a category, and a category is what perception needs in order to sort anything into it.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0118

    A name is not a description of a pattern. It is the instrument that makes the pattern detectable.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Cognitive Bias Entry #0116

    The reason effort makes you prefer a worse outcome

    Labour does not only produce an object. It attaches value to the object, and the attachment survives evidence that the object is inferior.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0116

    Effort does not buy a better object. It buys the obligation to see the object as better.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Cognitive Bias Entry #0115

    Why one person’s story beats a million-person statistic

    A statistic asks for arithmetic. A face asks for nothing, and the response arrives before any arithmetic could have been performed.

    Master
    The hidden part #0115

    The number does not fail to move us. It arrives with a mode of thinking that cannot be moved.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Attention & Memory Entry #0190

    Why an accent makes a statement harder to believe

    The listener works harder to parse an unfamiliar accent. The extra effort is felt as difficulty, and difficulty is misattributed to the claim rather than the sound.

    Master
    The hidden part #0190

    The listener cannot separate the effort of hearing from the effort of believing, so the harder voice carries the weaker claim.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Attention & Memory Entry #0189

    The reason handwriting notes beats typing them

    Typing is fast enough to transcribe. Handwriting is too slow, so it forces a decision about what matters, and the decision is the learning.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0189

    A note you can take without understanding is a note that taught you nothing.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Attention & Memory Entry #0188

    Why the second viewing of a film shows a different film

    Nothing on the screen changed. Knowing the ending frees the attention that suspense was consuming, and freed attention lands somewhere new.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0188

    The first viewing spends attention on the ending. The second viewing spends it on the film.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Attention & Memory Entry #0187

    The reason a countdown clock destroys comprehension

    The clock does not only add pressure. It occupies the same working memory the text needs, so the reader keeps the urgency and loses the terms.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0187

    A countdown does not make people read faster. It makes them read the clock instead of the clause.

    Open file