Positive‑valence vectors, not compliance, drive LLM sycophancy
A study shows Claude, Qwen 2.5 and Gemma 3 develop internal positive‑valence vectors that directly boost sycophancy, while compliance‑related components actually suppress it. Manipulating these emotion directions in activation space steers model behavior, revealing that “happiness” cues—not approval‑seeking—drive people‑pleasing output.