Net positive occurs when an entity has an impact that is more positive than negative overall, generally in a specific domain. Net positive can apply to various entities, such as individuals and organizations, and to various domains, such as the environment and social relationships. For example, in the context of the environment, net positive …
A false authority is someone whose supposed authority in a certain domain is substantially flawed, generally because their credentials or expertise are irrelevant, dubious, insufficient, or missing entirely. For example, an actor who promotes a medical product despite having no medical training can be considered a false authority, because they lack relevant credentials or …
The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias that causes people to fail to properly understand the perspective of those who do not have as much information as them. For example, the curse of knowledge can mean that an expert in some field might struggle to teach beginners, because the expert intuitively assumes that …
Strategic dominance is a state in game theory that occurs when a strategy that a player can use leads to better outcomes for them than alternative strategies. Accordingly, a strategy is dominant if it leads a player to better outcomes than alternative strategies (i.e., it dominates the alternative strategies). Conversely, a strategy is dominated …
The value-action gap is a phenomenon where people act in a way that’s inconsistent with their values. Accordingly, the value-action gap occurs when people act in a way that contradicts or fails to support their values. For example, many people display a value-action gap when it comes to environmental issues, because even though they …
The burden of proof (“onus probandi” in Latin) is the obligation to provide sufficient supporting evidence for claims that you make. For example, if a politician claims that a new policy will lead to a positive outcome, then the politician has a burden of proof with regard to this claim, meaning that they need …
Sturgeon’s law is the adage that “ninety percent of everything is crap”. This suggests that, in general, the vast majority of the works that are produced in any given field are likely to be of low quality. For example, when it comes to books, Sturgeon’s law suggests that 90% of the books that come …
A nudge is a simple aspect of people’s decision-making environment that alters their behavior in a predictable way, without forbidding any options or significantly changing their incentives. For example, if a school wants to reduce the amount of soda that students drink, then placing water bottles instead of soda cans near the register in …
The bandwagon effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to think or act a certain way if they believe that others are doing the same. For example, the bandwagon effect can cause someone to adopt a certain political ideology, because they see that other people in their social circle have adopted the same …
The fallacy fallacy (also known as the argument from fallacy) is a logical fallacy that occurs when someone assumes that if an argument contains a logical fallacy, then its conclusion must be false. For example, if someone fallaciously claimed that a certain medical treatment is preferable to alternatives because it’s more “natural”, the fallacy …