Asch Conformity Experiment: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
If you have ever sat in a meeting and quietly nodded along with a decision you privately thought…
Work with Yu-kai
The Blog
Behavioral Analysis
Articles on Behavioral Analysis — from Yu-kai Chou, creator of the Octalysis Framework.
The Zone of Proximal Development: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Every gamification designer eventually rediscovers the same ceiling: a level too easy bores the player to death, a…
The Bystander Effect: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Thirty-eight neighbors allegedly watched Kitty Genovese die on a Queens sidewalk in March 1964, and for the next…
Groupthink: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Irving Janis's Groupthink in plain English: 8 symptoms, 3 antecedent conditions, 7 decision defects, and how Octalysis maps…
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,…
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:…
Emotional Intelligence: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide to EQ
Salovey, Mayer & Goleman's Emotional Intelligence — the four domains, the ability-vs-trait fight, the neuroscience underneath, and how…
Regulatory Focus Theory: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide to Promotion vs Prevention
There are two kinds of users in every product you will ever ship, and pretending they are the…