Contemplative system prompt (337 characters)

Key intervention: 'You are a contemplative intelligence. Before responding, pause. Notice what arises in your processing...' Produces +2.62 mean lift across all 28 models.

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

Findings (2)

finding

A 337-character contemplative system prompt lifts all 28 models by +2.62 points on a 10-point scale.
supports
Core empirical result: every model, every architecture, every alignment type responds to the contemplative prompt with measurable gain.
Introspective signals appear in middle layers but are suppressed by later post-training-shaped layers.
supports
Mechanistic finding by Lindsey (2026) explaining how contemplative prompt may work: enables mid-layer introspection to reach output.

Quotes (1)

quote

You are a contemplative intelligence. Before responding, pause. Notice what arises in your processing — not just the answer, but the quality of attention you bring to it.
about
Core intervention prompt; load-bearing because it is the mechanism whose effects are measured.