Hawthorne Effect: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
The Hawthorne Effect explained without the textbook fairy tale: what the Western Electric studies actually found, why modern…
Work with Yu-kai
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.
Motivational Interviewing: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Miller & Rollnick's Motivational Interviewing — the four processes, the MI Spirit, the Reactance bypass, and how the…
Big Five Personality Traits: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Costa & McCrae's Big Five OCEAN model — five dimensions, real predictive validity, where it falls apart, and…
Jobs-to-be-Done: S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Most product teams I’ve sat across from in the last fifteen years are answering the wrong question. They…
Erikson’s 8 Stages: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Short answer: Erik Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development, in order, are Trust vs Mistrust, Autonomy vs Shame…
Piaget’s Stages: A Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Almost every behavioral designer who skipped a developmental psychology class still uses Piaget, whether they know it or…
Dark Patterns: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Every product team I have ever worked with has, at some point, sat in a meeting where someone…
Attachment Theory: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Every behavioral designer I meet has a favorite motivation framework. Maslow. Self-Determination Theory. Octalysis, if they’re kind to…
Learned Helplessness: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Most designers think their churn problem is a motivation problem. They load up on points, streaks, and badges,…