As I already said in part one, these aren't abstract theories. They're practical frameworks I collected over 20 years of building and selling products and services.
At the right moment, they can transform how you approach product development, marketing, or UX design. They can get you unstuck or just inspired to try something new. You don't need to master all of these, but you can. What I recommend is to use them regularly as variable lenses to review your work, features and plans. You'll start seeing new opportunities for improvement everywhere.
Let's jump right into the second half of the list.
Behavior happens when motivation, ability, and triggers align.
BJ Fogg's model (B=MAT) reveals that sustainable behavior change requires all three elements occurring simultaneously. High motivation can overcome low ability temporarily, but it's not sustainable. High ability with low motivation needs the right trigger. The sweet spot is making the desired behavior as easy as possible while providing timely, relevant prompts. This model is particularly powerful for habit formation and user engagement.
As a UX designer improving meditation app adoption, you orchestrate all three elements strategically. Motivation comes from personalized content that connects to users' specific stress points and goals. Ability is maximized through 60-second guided sessions that require zero prior knowledge. Triggers are contextual notifications based on calendar integration—appearing during lunch breaks or after meetings. The magic happens when motivated users receive a trigger at a moment when the desired behavior feels effortless.
As a UX designer improving crypto wallet adoption, you orchestrate all three elements: Motivation comes from showcasing real yield opportunities and success stories from similar users. Ability is maximized through one-click transactions, gasless experiences, and seed phrase alternatives. Triggers are contextual notifications about yield opportunities when users have idle assets, or governance proposals when they have voting power. Users develop healthy DeFi habits because the desired behavior feels effortless when properly motivated.
Source: Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything by BJ Fogg - Official website: Fogg Behavior Model
Memories are made at peaks and endings.
Daniel Kahneman's research reveals that people judge experiences primarily on two moments: the most intense point (peak) and how it ended. This means that the overall duration or average quality matters less than crafting these crucial touchpoints. Understanding this allows you to strategically design experiences that feel better in memory than they might have felt in real-time.
Designing an e-commerce checkout flow with this principle means reimagining the traditional "thank you" page. Instead of a generic confirmation, you create a peak moment: animated celebration, personalized thank-you video from the founder, unexpected bonus (early shipping, exclusive content, or loyalty points), plus clear next steps that maintain engagement. The last interaction isn't administrative—it's delightful. Users remember feeling special, not completing a transaction.
Designing a DEX trading interface with this principle means reimagining the post-swap experience. Instead of a generic transaction hash, you create a peak moment: animated success celebration, portfolio impact visualization, achievement badges for milestones ("First swap," "Whale status," "Diamond hands"), plus contextual next steps (yield opportunities, governance participation). The last interaction isn't administrative - instead, it's empowering. Users remember feeling like sophisticated traders, not just completing transactions.
Source: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman - Key Paper: "When More Pain Is Preferred to Less: Adding a Better End" (1993)
We copy what others do, especially when uncertain.
Robert Cialdini identified social proof as one of the most powerful influence principles. When people are unsure how to act, they look to others' behavior for guidance. But not all social proof is equal—relevance matters more than volume. People are more influenced by similar others than by large numbers of dissimilar people. The key is showing the right social proof to the right people at the right moment.
Marketing a SaaS tool to designers becomes about showcasing peer success, not just customer count. Instead of "Join 50,000 users," you highlight "Used by designers at Apple, Airbnb, and Stripe" with specific use cases. Your case studies don't just show results—they show the person behind the results, their specific challenges, and how they overcame them. Prospects see themselves in these stories because the social proof feels relevant and attainable, not aspirational and distant.
Marketing a Layer 2 scaling solution to developers becomes about showcasing peer adoption, not just transaction throughput. Instead of "Process 10,000 TPS," you highlight "Used by Uniswap, Aave, and the teams building the apps you use daily" with specific implementation case studies. Your developer documentation doesn't just show technical specs—it shows the person behind successful deployments, their specific challenges (gas costs, UX friction), and how they solved them with your solution. New developers see themselves in these stories because the social proof feels relevant and achievable.
Source: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
Distance changes how we think about things.
Developed by Yaacov Trope and Nira Liberman, this theory shows that psychological distance (temporal, spatial, social, or hypothetical) affects mental representation. Distant events are thought about abstractly, focusing on why we do things. Near events are thought about concretely, focusing on how we do things. This has profound implications for how you frame goals, features, and benefits depending on when users will experience them.
As a builder developing a carbon tracking app, you use both abstract and concrete framing strategically. Your long-term vision focuses on abstract benefits: "Help save the planet for future generations" with inspiring visuals and broad impact statements. But your onboarding and daily interactions are concrete: "Reduce your commute emissions by 12% this week" with specific actions like "Take the train instead of driving on Tuesday." Users connect with the big picture but act on specific, immediate steps.
As a builder developing a climate impact DAO, you use both abstract and concrete framing strategically. Your long-term vision focuses on abstract benefits: "Coordinate global climate action through decentralized governance" with inspiring visuals of renewable energy and impact metrics. But your daily participation mechanisms are concrete: "Vote on this $10K grant to solar installations in Kenya" with specific project details and measurable outcomes. Members connect with the planetary mission but act on specific, immediate proposals.
Source: The Psychology of Transcending the Here and Now (2002) by Yaacov Trope & Nira Liberman - See also: Handbook of Motivation Science Chapter on Construal Level Theory
Everyone's decisions affect everyone else's outcomes.
Originating with John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern, game theory analyzes strategic interactions where the outcome depends not just on your choice, but on others' choices too. In product design, this means understanding how user behaviors create network effects, competitive dynamics, and emergent social structures. The goal isn't to manipulate, but to design systems where individual rational behavior creates positive collective outcomes.
Marketing a professional networking platform requires understanding the multi-sided nature of the value proposition. Early adopters need to see potential future value (network effects), while later users need to see immediate existing value (active community). Your growth strategy focuses on creating virtuous cycles: valuable content attracts viewers, viewers become contributors, contributors attract more viewers. You design incentives so that each user's success depends on helping others succeed, creating sustainable competitive advantages through community rather than features.
Marketing a prediction market requires understanding multi-sided value creation. Early traders need subsidized liquidity and favorable odds, while later participants need deep markets and accurate prices. Your tokenomics create virtuous cycles: accurate predictions earn rewards, rewards attract more predictors, more predictors improve accuracy. You design incentives so that each user's profit depends on market efficiency rather than other users' losses, creating sustainable competitive advantages through collective intelligence rather than zero-sum competition.
Source: Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1944) by John von Neumann, Oskar Morgenstern - More accessible: The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist's Guide to Success in Business and Life by Avinash K. Dixit, Barry J. Nalebuff
Unpredictable rewards create the strongest habits.
B.F. Skinner's operant conditioning research revealed that variable ratio schedules—where rewards come unpredictably but consistently—create the most persistent behaviors. This explains everything from gambling addiction to social media engagement. The key insight for ethical builders is that variable rewards can strengthen positive behaviors, but the rewards must be meaningful and aligned with user goals, not just engineered for engagement.
As a UX designer creating a language learning app, you implement variable reinforcement ethically by making genuine progress achievements unpredictable but meaningful. Sometimes completing a lesson unlocks a cultural insight, sometimes a new game mode, sometimes a personal message from native speakers. The variability creates excitement, but every reward advances actual learning goals. Users develop strong habits not because they're addicted to random rewards, but because the unpredictable positive feedback makes their learning journey feel dynamic and personally meaningful.
Or as a UX designer creating a play-to-earn game, you implement variable reinforcement ethically by making genuine skill achievements unpredictable but meaningful. Sometimes completing a quest drops a rare NFT, sometimes unlocks new game areas, sometimes reveals lore that enhances the community narrative. The variability creates excitement, but every reward advances actual gameplay progression or community building. Players develop strong engagement not because they're addicted to random drops, but because unpredictable rewards make their gaming journey feel dynamic and socially connected to a larger world-building effort.
Source: Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal - Academic foundation: Operant Conditioning by B.F. Skinner
These aren't just tools - for me, they're lenses for seeing human nature more clearly.
You already know that the most successful builders don't just apply these frameworks mechanically. They combine them, adapt them, and use them to develop intuition about what makes people tick. They understand that behind every great product is a deep empathy for human psychology.
Start with one framework that resonates with your current challenge. Apply it consistently until it becomes second nature. Then add another. Over time, you'll develop mental models that will help you see opportunities others miss and build experiences that feel inevitable rather than engineered.
The age of AI makes human psychology more important, not less. Machines can optimize, but only humans who understand humans can create meaning.
Use these frameworks regularly, and you won't just build better products - you'll build better products that matter. 😉 Isn't that what we all want!
If you read it all till here then you have idea about 11 different frameworks or psychological mental models that give you life-time of possible research and surprises. But you don't need to become an academic to use them effectively in your everyday life.
Just pick one and go explore if it gives you any new ideas for issues your facing while building next unicorn!
Till next time, let's BUILD BETTER and let's read more! 📔
BFG
Publishing every Tue morning UTC and occasionally over the weekends.
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