Fundamental Attribution Error: They Are Impatient, You Were Late
The same behaviour gets explained by character in others and by circumstance in yourself. The asymmetry is not mainly self-flattery — it is what you can and cannot see.
Topic
Group Dynamics
Organizational Design: Choosing What Will Be Easy to Build
An org chart looks like a diagram of authority. It works as a map of which conversations are cheap — and that is what ends up shaping the product.
Dunbar's Number: The Limit Is Attention, Not Memory
You can recognise thousands of faces and actively maintain far fewer relationships. The famous figure of 150 is contested — the underlying constraint is not.
Cognitive Dissonance: The Belief Moves Because the Action Cannot
When what you did clashes with what you think, one has to give. The action already happened and the belief is private — so people end up sincerely believing whatever justifies what they did.
Zero-Sum and Positive-Sum: Two Very Different Games
Two children share one cake and one child's gain is the other's loss. Two neighbours swap mangoes for apples and both end up better off, with no new fruit. Telling these apart changes what you should do.
Hanlon's Razor: Most Slights Were Never Aimed at You
The meeting you weren't invited to has two explanations that fit equally well. Preferring the boring one isn't generosity — it's what happens when you count how much each explanation assumes.
Social Media: A Feed Is a Decision, Not a Pipe
Early networks showed you what your contacts posted, in order. A modern feed is a ranked selection made on your behalf — and what it optimises for explains most of the arguments about it.