The Mere Measurement Effect
Asking someone whether they plan to do something makes them a little more likely to do it. The effect is small, but it costs one sentence, and it changes what a status question is for.
The Hidden Profile Effect
When the best option only shows up once everyone's unique knowledge is pooled, groups usually miss it. Discussion keeps returning to what everyone already knows.
The Labor Illusion
People value a result more when they can see the work that went into it. Most of the effort behind your team's best output never travels with the file, so it never gets credited.
The Vacation Fade-Out Effect
Time off lifts health and mood, and the lift is generally gone in the first week back at work. The researchers' best guesses for slowing the fade all point at the return.
The MUM Effect
People pass on bad news less fully and less readily than good news, even when nobody can trace it back to them. Early warning depends on making the bad-news path cheap.
The Habit Discontinuity Hypothesis
A change of setting loosens old habits for a short while. A reorg, a new team or an office move opens that window, and in one field experiment it lasted about three months.
The Liking Gap
The liking gap is the distance between how much people like you after a conversation and how much you think they do. It shows up in teams too, widest between peers.
Pluralistic Ignorance and the Quiet Meeting
Pluralistic ignorance is when most of a group privately doubts something but assumes everyone else is on board, and a silent meeting is where it hides. The fix is letting every view land at the same moment.
Attention Residue: Why the Next Task Gets Half of You
Attention residue is the part of your mind still stuck on the task you just left. A short note on where you stopped, written before you switch, frees it up for whatever comes next.
The Illusion of Explanatory Depth
Asked to write out how a zipper works step by step, people's rating of their own understanding fell by a fifth. The same gap sits under most plans that reach your desk, and one question exposes it.
The Illusion of Transparency
Leaders assume their priorities and frustrations are plain to everyone. Research on the illusion of transparency shows your inner state leaks out far less than it feels like it does.
The Bystander Effect at Work
In 1968, 85% of people who thought they were alone reported a seizure before the victim went silent. With four others listening, 31% did. Your team channel runs the same experiment every day.