Behavioural Atlas Documentation
The Behavioural Atlas is a structured repository of cognitive biases, heuristics, and behavioural phenomena mapped within a relational network. The idea was to create a dynamic conceptual map of behavioural ideas.
Conceptual Structure
Each node represents a behavioural construct, be it a bias a bias, distortion, decision heuristic, or architectural feature of cognition.
Nodes are grouped beneath broader structural principles (e.g. attention constraints, narrative construction, memory architecture, decision dynamics). These higher-order nodes act as organising anchors and are not rigid categories.
Edges represent conceptual proximity or theoretical overlap. Spatial clustering reflects relational density rather than hierarchy. The system is designed to emphasise interdependence.
Purpose
The Atlas serves as a navigable reference layer for behavioural science. It allows users to:
- ▹Explore biases through relational proximity
- ▹Identify structural overlaps between domains
- ▹Understand behavioural patterns within broader systems
- ▹Trace conceptual linkages across cognitive mechanisms
Interpretation Notes
This repository does not claim completeness or final authority. As with all science, Behavioural science also evolves and therefore definitions might shift.
Many biases overlap semantically. Some may be debated, reframed, or subsumed under broader mechanisms. The Atlas reflects a working model.
Spatial arrangement within the graph is completely heuristic. That is, distance implies conceptual relatedness, not some concrete, empirical magnitude.
Caveats & Limitations
- 01Not all behavioural effects are independent constructs.
- 02Some nodes represent theoretical abstractions rather than experimentally isolated phenomena.
- 03The network does not encode effect size or empirical robustness.
- 04Conceptual links reflect interpretative judgement.
Design Philosophy
Behaviour is not modular, but entangled in a complex web of subtle intricacies. Biases are therefore rarely isolated mechanisms; they emerge from interacting cognitive constraints, be it background, education and of course, other biases.
The Atlas therefore emphasises connectivity over categorisation. It is intended as a conceptual scaffold for exploration and should not, for the time being, be considered anything more than this.