MENTAL MODEL · M13128

Importance, Neglectedness, Tractability

SystemsHigh supportEffective Altruism

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Updated 2026-08-17

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INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

A prioritisation framework used in effective altruism and popularised by the organisation 80,000 Hours. It evaluates a cause or problem on three dimensions: importance, meaning the scale of the benefit if it were solved; neglectedness, meaning how few resources and how little attention it currently receives; and tractability, meaning how feasible it is to make progress with available means. The recommended allocation goes to causes scoring high on all three, on the reasoning that neglected and solvable problems offer the largest marginal return per unit of effort. It guides comparison rather than yielding an answer.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Cause selection: Score candidate problems on all three dimensions before committing time or money. - Marginal thinking: Ask whether an additional unit of effort in this area still buys as much as it once did. - Portfolio review: Re-score periodically, since neglectedness falls as a cause attracts resources.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Impact per unit of effort depends on both the size of the prize and how crowded the field already is, so a large but well-funded problem offers little marginal gain. Neglectedness enters because returns diminish as resources accumulate, which means the same contribution does more where few others are working. Tractability bounds the whole calculation: a problem with no available path to progress converts any amount of effort into nothing. The three factors multiply rather than average, so a near-zero score on any one collapses the case.

MINIMUM ACTION

In progress 0/1

Practice this model in one real situation:

Write down three to five candidate problems you could actually work on. 2. Score each on importance, neglectedness and tractability using explicit criteria. 3. Check for crowding by counting who already works on the top-scoring problem. 4. Compare your own skills against the tractability of each option. 5. Re-score every six months, because neglectedness shifts fastest of the three.

Check to track your progress (stored locally)

Learning progress0%

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Source support: Explicit

link
analogypkm.comhttps://analogypkm.com/experience/mental-models/zh/150_重要性_忽视度_可行性.htmlZH · Explicit
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