Cognitive Scaffold

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MENTAL MODEL · M0389

Psychological Safety

Psychological Safety
BehaviorHigh supportPsychology
Included
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

Proposed by Amy Edmondson and validated by Google's Project Aristotle as the top factor for high-performing teams. It refers to team members' confidence that if they make mistakes, ask questions, or raise objections, they will not be punished or humiliated.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Innovation soil: Without psychological safety, there is no innovation. Because innovation implies high-frequency failure, and if failure is ridiculed, everyone will choose mediocre conformity.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Members are confident that mistakes, questions, or objections will not be punished or humiliated, which is the top factor for high-performing teams (validated by Google's Project Aristotle); it unleashes learning and error-correction capabilities.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

  • link
    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_safetyZH · Explicit
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