Sutton's law

E128156

diagnostic principle medical heuristic

Sutton's law is a medical and diagnostic principle that advises focusing first on the most likely cause of a problem, echoing bank robber Willie Sutton’s apocryphal rationale for targeting banks.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Sutton's law canonical	1
Sutton’s Law in medicine	1
Sutton’s law	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1114054 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Sutton's law
Context triple: [Willie Sutton, associatedConcept, Sutton's law]

A. Skinner box
The Skinner box is an experimental apparatus used in behavioral psychology to study and control animal learning through systematically administered rewards and punishments.
B. Postel’s law
Postel’s law is a design principle in computing and networking that advises systems to be conservative in what they send and liberal in what they accept, promoting robustness and interoperability.
C. Occam's razor
Occam's razor is a philosophical and scientific principle that advises preferring the simplest explanation that adequately accounts for all observed facts.
D. Steinmetz’s law of hysteresis
Steinmetz’s law of hysteresis is an empirical formula that relates the energy loss in magnetic materials to the maximum magnetic flux density, widely used in electrical engineering to estimate core losses in transformers and other AC magnetic devices.
E. Hawthorne studies
The Hawthorne studies were a series of influential workplace experiments conducted in the 1920s–1930s that revealed how social and psychological factors significantly affect employee productivity and behavior.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Sutton's law
Target entity description: Sutton's law is a medical and diagnostic principle that advises focusing first on the most likely cause of a problem, echoing bank robber Willie Sutton’s apocryphal rationale for targeting banks.

A. Skinner box
The Skinner box is an experimental apparatus used in behavioral psychology to study and control animal learning through systematically administered rewards and punishments.
B. Postel’s law
Postel’s law is a design principle in computing and networking that advises systems to be conservative in what they send and liberal in what they accept, promoting robustness and interoperability.
C. Occam's razor
Occam's razor is a philosophical and scientific principle that advises preferring the simplest explanation that adequately accounts for all observed facts.
D. Steinmetz’s law of hysteresis
Steinmetz’s law of hysteresis is an empirical formula that relates the energy loss in magnetic materials to the maximum magnetic flux density, widely used in electrical engineering to estimate core losses in transformers and other AC magnetic devices.
E. Hawthorne studies
The Hawthorne studies were a series of influential workplace experiments conducted in the 1920s–1930s that revealed how social and psychological factors significantly affect employee productivity and behavior.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	diagnostic principle ⓘ medical heuristic ⓘ
appliesTo	clinical reasoning ⓘ diagnostic testing ⓘ differential diagnosis ⓘ
audience	medical students ⓘ other healthcare professionals ⓘ physicians ⓘ
cognitiveBiasRisk	anchoring bias ⓘ premature closure ⓘ
contextOfUse	high-value care initiatives ⓘ initial diagnostic approach ⓘ resource-limited settings ⓘ
contrastedWith	searching for rare diseases before common ones ⓘ shotgun diagnostic testing ⓘ
coreIdea	allocate diagnostic resources where they are most likely to yield results ⓘ focus on the most likely diagnosis first ⓘ investigate the most probable cause of a problem before rarer possibilities ⓘ
field	clinical diagnosis ⓘ medical education ⓘ medicine ⓘ
hasAnalogy	go where the probability is highest ⓘ look first where the diagnosis is most likely to be found ⓘ
hasLimitation	can lead to missed rare diagnoses if applied rigidly ⓘ may encourage cognitive bias toward common conditions ⓘ
inspiredBy	Willie Sutton's alleged quote about robbing banks ⓘ
mentionedIn	clinical reasoning curricula ⓘ evidence-based medicine discussions ⓘ medical textbooks ⓘ
namedAfter	Willie Sutton ⓘ
originStory	based on the apocryphal explanation that banks are robbed because that is where the money is ⓘ
practicalEffect	can shorten time to diagnosis ⓘ reduces unnecessary testing costs ⓘ streamlines diagnostic workup ⓘ
quoteAssociated	Go where the money is ⓘ
relatedConcept	Bayesian reasoning in diagnosis ⓘ Occam's razor ⓘ cost-effectiveness in medicine ⓘ diagnostic yield ⓘ pretest probability ⓘ
statusOfQuote	apocryphal ⓘ
teaches	common conditions are more likely than rare ones ⓘ diagnostic workup should be guided by likelihood ⓘ tests should be ordered where they are most likely to change management ⓘ
usedFor	cost-conscious medical decision-making ⓘ ordering investigations ⓘ prioritizing diagnostic tests ⓘ reducing unnecessary diagnostic procedures ⓘ teaching diagnostic prioritization to medical students ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Willie Sutton → associatedConcept → Sutton's law ⓘ

Willie Sutton → subjectOf → Sutton’s law ⓘ

subject linked to: The Actor

linked to: Sutton's law

Willie Sutton → subjectOf → Sutton’s Law in medicine ⓘ

subject linked to: called "The Actor" for his theatrical disguises and performances during robberies