The Law of triviality states that the time a group spends on an issue tends to be inversely proportional to the issue's consequences.

• A. Moderation
• B. Triviality
• C. Complexity
• D. Importance

Answer: (B)

This item tests the tendency described by the Law of triviality: groups devote most of their discussion time to small, simple, and easily grasped issues, while paying comparatively little attention to matters with real consequences. The reason this happens is that trivial topics are easier to understand, carry less risk, and don’t require specialized expertise, so people feel comfortable speaking up quickly. In contrast, important issues demand careful analysis, expertise, or significant risk assessment, which can slow the discussion or deter lengthy debate. As a result, the group’s time is spent disproportionately on minor items, even though those items may have far less impact.

Moderation is about guiding discussion flow, not this pattern of time allocation. Complexity refers to how difficult a topic is, which is related but not the specific time-commitment pattern described. Importance aligns with consequences but doesn’t name the observed behavior of spending time inversely to those consequences. The concept described is preciselyTriviality, the name given to this phenomenon.