A Short Guide to Behavioral Science (Part 2 )
The COM-B Model and the Theoretical Domains Framework
Making your insights more actionable with behavioral models
In part 1 of this series, I introduced behavioral science as a multidisciplinary field that combines psychology, economics, anthropology, human-centered design, and systems thinking (among others) to understand how people make choices.
I wrote about how this field goes far beyond the popular understanding of cognitive biases and "nudges" that became well-known during the behavioral economics heyday.
I emphasized that behavioral science provides us with powerful thinking tools—models and frameworks like COM-B, TDF, and ISM (Individual, Social, Material)—that help us navigate complexity, analyze insights efficiently, and avoid relying solely on intuition or experience. I showed how the ISM model, developed by the Scottish Government, can break down behavior drivers into individual, social, and material contexts, as demonstrated in the electric vehicle adoption example.
It's important to remember that these models are representations—they won't be 100% applicable to every context. As I noted previously, you need to apply critical thinking to determine which frameworks are appropriate for your specific challenges. Behind these models are theories that you may need to explore more deeply depending on your needs.
Today, I thought I would give you a bit more on the analysis part - covering in more detail two other tools, the COM-B model and the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF), both of which you can learn in my self paced course here.
These tools are particularly valuable because they help us move beyond gut analysis and help us to identify specific drivers of behavior that may make it difficult for your customers or employees to take action on something.
Whether you're designing products, services, communications, or policies, these frameworks offer a systematic way to understand and influence human behavior. Let's explore how they work and how you can apply them to your challenges.
The COM-B Model: Your Starting Point for Behavior Analysis
The COM-B model seems to be gaining some popularity outside the behavioral science community, which is great, because it gives us a powerful lens for analyzing behavior. Developed in 2011 by Susan Michie and colleages at University College London, it breaks down the things that make it hard (or easy) to do a behavior into three areas:
Capability - Can people actually do the behavior?
Physical capability: Do they have the strength, skills, or stamina?
Psychological capability: Do they have the knowledge, mental processes, or decision-making abilities?
Opportunity - Does the environment support the behavior?
Physical opportunity: Are there enough resources, time, or appropriate spaces?
Social opportunity: Do cultural norms, peer influence, or social cues encourage the behavior?
Motivation - Do people want to do the behavior?
Reflective motivation: Does it align with their goals, intentions, or values?
Automatic motivation: Is it emotionally rewarding or habitual?
What makes this model particularly useful is how these elements interact. Capability and opportunity directly influence motivation, which then drives behavior. But the relationship works both ways—successfully performing a behavior can strengthen capabilities, create new opportunities, and reinforce motivation. These dynamic relationships are central to the model's explanatory power.
Let's look at it from a product example:
Imagine you've implemented a new AI tool at work. Employees may not adopt it, despite your repeated meetings about its value.
If we used COM-B, we may discover:
Users lack psychological capability (they don't understand how to use key features)
Physical opportunity barriers exist (it doesn't integrate with their existing workflow)
Reflective motivation is missing (they don't see how it fits their professional goals)
Using a model like this for analysis - which we use in our consulting work - immediately helps us organize what we see and hear, so we can then use that to be more precise about what initiatives we could put in place to help overcome those barriers.
The Theoretical Domains Framework: Adding Depth to Your Analysis
Most people start at COM-B, however sometimes we need to go a little bit deeper to get to the root cause of what is really happening - this is where we would use a complementary tool like the Theoretical Domains Framework (this means we now would have a two layered analysis).
The TDF domains would help us see in more detail if something is making it hard or easy to do a behavior by looking at: (also by Michie and colleagues)
Knowledge
Skills
Memory, attention, decision processes
Behavioral regulation
Social/professional role and identity
Beliefs about capabilities
Optimism
Beliefs about consequences
Intentions
Goals
Reinforcement
Emotion
Environmental context and resources
Social influences
For each of these domains, we would also be able to see different indicators -
Domain —> Beliefs about capabilities
Indicators —> 1) Self-confidence 2) Self-esteem
See how granular we can get - and that granularity is what is going to help us design more precise solutions.
How to Apply These Tools?
Here's how we do it in our consulting work:
Start with COM-B for a quick diagnostic
Capability: Can users perform the behavior? What knowledge or skills might they be missing?
Opportunity: What environmental factors are helping or hindering? Are there social norms at play?
Motivation: What reflective or automatic drivers might influence user decisions?
Use targeted questions to explore behavioral influences such as (we create custom ones depending on the project we are working on)
For physical capability: "Do you know how to do the behavior?"
For physical opportunity: "Do you have all you need to do the behavior?"
For reflective motivation: "What do you think will happen if you do the behavior?"
Dive deeper with TDF to get more granularity
Identify the specific domains and indicators and tag them
Use the TDF to later on find the right techniques to address more precisely
Getting Started
If you're new to behavioral science frameworks, COM-B provides an accessible entry point. Its three components offer a structured way to analyze behavioral influences without getting overwhelmed.
Now, don’t let the simplicity of the model fool you into thinking its easy, it will take practice and training to get good at the tool, and even in our projects we have to put different eyes on an analysis, as different people may interpret things differently, so having good discussions about what an influence may be is crucial.
As you grow more comfortable, the TDF can add more the precision for designing effective interventions - and depending on what you are working on you may need other models or frameworks to use and combine.
Ok, that is it for today, once again, I hope this is useful for you and your work.
What behavioral challenges are you facing with your products, services, experiences or communications ? I'd love to hear how you would apply these tools to understand your customers and employees better.
If you don’t know me, I’m Robert Meza a practitioner who is running a consultancy called Aim For Behavior - I teach courses and work with clients around the world on fun but challenging behavioral focused projects.
Have a great day, Robert