Learn how to change behavior.
The world's largest collection of resources and data on behavioral science.
Behavior change and behavior design models

MODELS
Fogg Behavior Model
TYPE
Behavior model
PEOPLE
BJ Fogg

MODELS
Health Action Process Approach
TYPE
Behavior model
PEOPLE
Ralf Schwarzer

MODELS
Intervention Design Process
TYPE
Behavior design process / heuristics
PEOPLE
Matt Wallaert

MODELS
Behavioral Design Process
TYPE
Behavior design process / heuristics
PEOPLE
Anthony Barrows, Natalie Dabney, Jon Hayes, Rachel Rosenberg
ORGANIZATION
ideas42

MODELS
EAST | Easy Attractive Social Timely
TYPE
Behavior design process / heuristics
PEOPLE
Owain Service, Michael Hallsworth, David Halpern
ORGANIZATION
UK Behavioural Insights Team (BIT)

MODELS
Social Cognitive Theory
TYPE
Behavior model
PEOPLE
Albert Bandura
Tactics that change behavior

TACTICS
Behavior Substitution
Behavior substitution refers to attempting to eliminate a problematic behavior by replacing it with another one. Often, the substituted behaviors are intended to have similar sensory qualities (e.g. drink flavored sparkling water instead of soda). The goal is typically to disassociate the original behavior from its cue, enabling the more positive behavior to be triggered automatically.

TACTICS
Depression rating
Depression rating simply refers to having someone rate their mood. Often, this may be an informal method like a smiley-face based Lickert scale or choosing a word from a list, rather than using a standardized instrument like the Beck Depression Inventory.

TACTICS
Automation
Automation refers to having another person, group, or technology system perform part or all of the intended behavior. A prominent example is Thaler & Bernartzi's Save More Tomorrow intervention, which invested a portion of employees' earnings into retirement funds automatically and even increased the contribution level to scale with pay raises. Other examples include automatically scheduling medical appointments so the patient needn't do it themselves and mailing healthy recipe ingredients to the person's home to reduce the burden of shopping.

TACTICS
Checklists
Checklists are an age-old tactic for remembering to do certain tasks. Checklists are sometimes used to measure behaviors that should take place with a certain frequency, e.g. every day or X times per week, and other times, to ensure certain steps are followed every time a person does a complex behavior.For behavior designers, the challenges of checklists often entail choosing the right behaviors, breaking them down to the correct level of granularity for a given population, and serving them up in the proper context or sometimes with personalization. They are likely underutilized and consistently improve the performance of even experts, like pilots and surgeons.

TACTICS
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a therapuetic approach to improving mental and behavioral health. The core philosophy is that behavior can be modified by noticing and correcting patterns in thought that influence the behavior. Modern CBT is typically associated with Albert Ellis and Alan Beck.The structured and rules-based nature of CBT have made it a popular candidate for digital interventions and application by lightly-trained or even untrained practitioners.

TACTICS
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT is a therapeutic approach originalled developed by Steven Hayes. It borrows from previous concepts like cognitive behavioral therapy and Morita therapy. The principles of ACT are fairly systematic and lend themselves well to program design, finding empirical support in adaptations like 2morrow's smoking cessation and pain management interventions.

TACTICS
Behavioral Activation (BA)
Behavioral activation is a therapeutic approach that typically pairs activity scheduling with either monitoring tools or goal-setting. For example, someone might aim to balance activities they "should" do but underperform, like self-care behaviors, with activities they enjoy. Users of this technique may also track which activities cause certain cognitions or affective states, like those associated with depression.

TACTICS
Education or Information
Education refers to empowering a person with more knowledge or training than they had previously. While providing information alone is often a suboptimal way to drive meaningful behavior change or long-term interventions, the right message at the right time can be a powerful part of a behavior change strategy.
Products that change behavior

PRODUCTS
APDS
Behaviors
Crime
Tactics
Social Support, Reminders, Cues +5 more

PRODUCTS
Accion

PRODUCTS
AdhereTech
PRODUCTS
2Morrow Chronic Pain Program
Behaviors
Mental Health & Self-Care, Other, Disease Management
Tactics
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Behavioral Activation (BA)
Models
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
PRODUCTS
Accupedo
Behaviors
Physical Activity
Tactics
Education or Information, Reminders, Cues +3 more
PRODUCTS
ActiveLifestyle

PRODUCTS
10% Happier
Behaviors
Mental Health & Self-Care
Tactics
Reminders, Cues, & Triggers +5 more

PRODUCTS
Advanced Brain Monitoring
Research on behavior change
PAPERS
Value-Based Insurance Design Improves Medication Adherence Without An Increase In Total Health Care Spending
PAPERS
The PULSE (Prevention Using LifeStyle Education) trial protocol: a randomised controlled trial of a Type 2 Diabetes Prevention programme for men.
BEHAVIOR
Physical Activity, Diet & Nutrition
PAPERS
Continuous glucose monitoring counseling improves physical activity behaviors of individuals with type 2 diabetes: A randomized clinical trial.
BEHAVIOR
Physical Activity, Disease Management
PAPERS
The program for rheumatic independent self-management: a pilot evaluation.
BEHAVIOR
Physical Activity
PAPERS
The effects of a multimodal intervention trial to promote lifestyle factors associated with the prevention of cardiovascular disease in menopausal and postmenopausal Australian women.
BEHAVIOR
Physical Activity
PAPERS
The Effectiveness of Prompts to Promote Engagement With Digital Interventions: A Systematic Review.
BEHAVIOR
Other
PAPERS
Increasing screening mammography in asymptomatic women: evaluation of a second-generation, theory-based program.
BEHAVIOR
Other
PAPERS
Physical activity with spiritual strategies intervention: a cluster randomized trial with older African American women.
BEHAVIOR
Physical Activity
TACTICS
Spirituality
PAPERS
A comparison of two delivery modalities of a mobile phone based assessment for serious mental illness: native smartphone application vs text-messaging only implementations.
BEHAVIOR
Mental Health & Self-Care