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…
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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.
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,…
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Every designer who has ever written a “Code of Conduct” page has collided with the same silent problem:…
Servant Leadership: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Greenleaf's Servant Leadership, the inverted pyramid that asks whether the people being served grow as people – mapped…
The Dark Triad: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Every designer who has ever chosen a dark pattern, buried a cancel link, or engineered a scarcity countdown…
Milgram Experiment: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Short answer: The Milgram obedience experiment showed that ordinary people will follow an authority figure far past their…
Classical Conditioning: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide to Pavlov
Every product designer has a moment they cannot explain. The phone buzzes on the desk, you feel a…
The Availability Heuristic: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide to Recall Bias
Short answer: The availability heuristic is the mental shortcut of judging how likely or common something is by…
Peak-End Rule: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide to Kahneman
The Peak-End Rule says memory is dominated by the emotional peak and the ending — duration is ignored.…