A complete reference for how the Behavioural Atlas works — its structure, purpose, and design boundaries.
The Behavioural Atlas is a structured repository of cognitive biases, heuristics, and behavioural phenomena mapped within a relational network. Rather than presenting biases as an alphabetical list, it places every construct in relation to the mechanisms and constraints that produce it.
Each node represents a behavioural construct, be it a bias, distortion, fallacy, law, decision heuristic, or architectural feature of cognition.
Nodes are grouped beneath broader structural principles. Core nodes act as umbrella terms. Underneath these are mechanisms — there can be many mechanisms under a core node. Within each mechanism sit the behavioural phenomena that relate to it. The higher-order nodes act as organising anchors and are not rigid categories.
The Atlas serves as a navigable reference layer for behavioural science. It allows you to:
This repository does not claim completeness or final authority. As with all science, behavioural science evolves and 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 heuristic — distance implies conceptual relatedness, not a concrete, empirical magnitude.
Behaviour is not modular, but entangled in a complex web of subtle intricacies. Biases are rarely isolated mechanisms; they emerge from interacting cognitive constraints — 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.
Ready to explore?
Open the Atlas or browse the full behaviour library.