Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M0959

Kayfabe

Kayfabe
CultureHigh supportPolitical Science
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-28

CORE DEFINITION

Kayfabe is the portrayal of staged elements within professional wrestling (such as characters, rivalries, and storylines) as legitimate or real. Although initially a wrestling term, Kayfabe has also been used to describe any suspension of disbelief or pretense of reality that deliberately blurs the lines between fact and fiction.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Kayfabe is the portrayal of staged elements within professional wrestling (such as characters, rivalries, and storylines) as legitimate or real. Although initially a wrestling term, Kayfabe has also b

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Performers and audiences share an unspoken contract: knowing the script is staged, they collectively act as if it is real, to maintain dramatic tension and engagement. Conflicts are ritualized and controlled, with real interests settled behind the scenes.

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Source support: Explicit

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