Fogg Behavior Model

Three core Motivators, each with two sides

My Behavior Model highlights three Core Motivators: Sensation, Anticipation, and Belonging. Each of these has two sides: pleasure/pain, hope/fear, acceptance/rejection.

The Core Motivators apply to everyone; they are central to the human experience. To illustrate my concept of Motivation, I took the photographs below in Oslo’s Vigeland Sculpture Park.

Sensation is a Core Motivator

Anticipation is a Core Motivator

Belonging is a Core Motivator

In 2012 I gave a keynote at at health conference in which I shared my concept of “Motivation Wave.” One key idea is that when motivation is high, you can get people to do hard things. But once it drops (the wave subsides, then people will only do easy things).

My model shows that Ability and Motivation have a trade-off relationship (technical term: “compensatory relationship”) when it comes to performing behaviors. That’s what the curved line on my Behavior Model represents.

You can watch the Motivation Wave video here. You may need to turn up the volume on the player window below: