Stereotype Content Model: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
The first thing your brain does when it encounters a person, a brand, an avatar, or a country…
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The Blog
Ideas on motivation, behavior & design.
Deep dives on the psychology behind why people do what they do — from Yu-kai Chou, creator of the Octalysis Framework. Pick the topic that matters to you.
Why Does VR Engagement Always Die Right After the Wow?
Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3 dazzle for thirty minutes, then sit in drawers. Yu-kai Chou explains…
Why Does Meaningful Work Always Lose to Urgent Work?
Yu-kai Chou on why meaningful work loses to urgent work, and the two-method playbook for fixing it: wrap…
Does Your Token Have Real Utility? A 3-Type Test for Web3
Most Web3 tokens launched in 2026 do not have real token utility. They have a launch price and…
How to Disagree with a Client Without Losing the Account
The client just walked you through their idea. You hate it. You can see exactly where it goes…
Why Do Users Abandon Sign-Up? The 3 Win State Trap
A new user just gave you their email. They typed a password. They clicked Sign Up. And in…
Why Do Users Quit Onboarding? The Always-Visible Action Rule
Hidden CTAs in onboarding kill activation. The always-visible action rule, mapped to three Octalysis Core Drives, fixes the…
Is Your MVP a Hypothesis Test or a Crappy Product?
Most founders confuse "minimum viable" with "minimum effort." A real MVP is the simplest possible experiment that proves…
Why Do Duplicate Drops Feel Like a Bug? The Merging Loop Fix
The first time I pulled a five-star duplicate in a gacha game I cared about, I felt the…