Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M6143

Three Men Make a Tiger

Three Men Make a Tiger
BehaviorHigh supportSocial Psychology
Included
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

If one person says there is a tiger on the street, you don't believe it; if two say it, you doubt; if three say it, you believe it.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

The fictional nature of consensus. Reality is often defined by social consensus. As long as the repetition is frequent enough and the sources appear independent enough (three people), absurd lies can become hard facts.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

When a lie is repeated by many people, it is mistakenly believed to be true, indicating that repeated propagation can create false consensus, belonging to information cascade and credibility illusion.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

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    zh.wikipedia.orghttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E4%BA%BA%E6%88%90%E8%99%8EZH · Explicit
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