Regulatory Mode Theory: S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Kruglanski's Regulatory Mode Theory says self-regulation runs on two engines: Locomotion (just do it) and Assessment (do the…
Work with Yu-kai
The Blog
Behavioral Analysis
Articles on Behavioral Analysis — from Yu-kai Chou, creator of the Octalysis Framework.
Rubicon Model of Action Phases: S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
In 49 BCE, a Roman general stood on a riverbank and stopped deliberating. The river was small, almost…
Temporal Self-Regulation Theory: S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Every behavioral designer I know has watched the same disaster movie a hundred times. A user signs up…
Hope Theory by Snyder: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Snyder's Hope Theory breaks hope into goals, pathways, and agency: three measurable components that predict performance beyond IQ.…
Moral Licensing: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Monin & Miller's moral licensing finding explained: how virtue licenses subsequent deviation, the replication-crisis-corrected effect size, and Octalysis…
PERMA Model: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Every wellness app and corporate engagement platform shipping in 2026 cites five letters as if they were physics.…
Self-Discrepancy Theory: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Short answer: Self-Discrepancy Theory is E. Tory Higgins’s 1987 framework that splits the self into Actual, Ideal, and…
Relational Models Theory: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Watch a friend pull out a calculator at the end of a dinner to split the bill down…
The Investment Model of Commitment: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Caryl Rusbult once asked a question that quietly broke half the assumptions retention designers were making: why do…