Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M4156

Kayfabe

Kayfabe
CultureHigh supportPolitical Sociology
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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 been used to describe any suspension of disbelief or pretense of reality that deliberately blurs the lines between fact and fiction.

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A collective tacit agreement to maintain a narrative that is known to be fictional but collectively believed. Breaking the tacit agreement (exposing it) is seen as breaking the rules, because the value of performative reality lies in collective participation rather than truth or falsehood.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

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