Cognitive Scaffold

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MENTAL MODEL · M3917

Goodhart's Law

Goodhart's Law
BusinessHigh supportEconomics
Included
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

"When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure." Because once a metric is used for evaluation, people will achieve the goal by "optimizing the metric" rather than "optimizing the actual outcome", causing the metric to become distorted.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Prevention of metric backfire. When designing any evaluation system, anticipate the possibility of the evaluated party "gaming the system". Do not only evaluate "quantity", but also design "quality" balancing metrics, or use "multi-metric combinations" and "random checks" to reduce the risk of manipulation.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

When a metric is used as a target or for rewards/punishments, the actor will optimize the "metric itself" rather than the true intention behind it (Campbell's Law / goal displacement), leading to gaming and distortion. Because measurable metrics always have proxy loopholes.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

  • link
    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_lawZH · Explicit
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