What is Dr Fogg’s behavioural model?

Dr Fogg’s behavioural model was established around the concept that everyone relies on 3 basic elements: Motivation, Ability, and Triggers.

When these elements converge at the same moment, a behaviour will occur. If a behaviour does not occur, at least on of these three elements is missing.

Motivation refers to the underlying drives that spark our desire to perform an action. Fogg highlights three drives in particular:

• Sensation – the physical motivation to seek pleasure and avoid pain.
• Anticipation – the emotional motivation to hope the action has a positive outcome.
• Belonging – the social motivation to feel like you belong and avoid rejection.

Ability refers to both someone’s competence in completing a task but also how simple it is to perform the action at that particular moment in time. People will not do something if it is either too much effort or not worth the effort.

Finally, Triggers are what prompts a person into action. If both the motivation and the ability is there, there needs to be a final spark that pushes them over the line to complete an action or behaviour. It needs to be a clear and concise instruction in order to be successful as a trigger. 

Understanding models, such as Dr Fogg’s behavioural model is crucial to understanding your customers better. To learn more about the brain, please click here for more articles on why we behave as we do or get in touch with us here.