Twaddle Tendency
Updated 2026-08-11
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
One of Charlie Munger's psychological tendencies. The core claim is that human beings, like bees that dance without conveying direction, generate language even when no useful information is available, and that this output displaces genuine information and creates a false sense of accomplishment. The key qualification is that the tendency concerns the mismatch between volume and information content, not the frequency of speaking as such.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- One point rule: decide the single conclusion before speaking and stop once it is delivered - Say unknown: answer I do not know instead of inventing an explanation to fill silence - Volume cap: set a hard page or time limit to force selection of content
Anchor fast decisions
Once the language system is engaged it tends to keep producing output regardless of whether information exists, because speaking itself delivers a sense of control and attention. That decouples volume from informational value, and listeners cannot easily separate the two in real time. The result is that valuable content is diluted and discussion time is consumed without producing decisions.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- mungermodels.comhttps://mungermodels.com/models/twaddle-tendencyverified
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