Guidance through the jungle of behavioral science theories, models, and concepts for non-behavioral scientists

Figures & data

Table 1. Categorization of behavioral science approaches.

Behavioral science approaches	Key concepts	Graphic representation
Linear	Rationality, information, motivation, utility, economics, psychology, heuristics, atomistic, isolated behavior
Context	Context, structure, agency, sociology, reciprocity, embeddedness, hierarchy, interdisciplinary, practice, habitus
Closed	Circularity, feedback, connectivity, systems thinking, leverage points, complex, learning/(self-)reflection
Habits	Repetition, pattern, routine, lock-in, heuristic, automation, cue

Table 2. The 4 dimensions of behavior framework from Chatterton and Wilson (2014).

	Levels
Dimension	Who, or what is enacting the behavior
Actor	Individual	Inter-personal	Community	Segment/Group	Population
	What shapes or influences our behavior?
Domain	Psychologically	Bodily	Technologically	Institutional/Social	Infrastructural/Environmental
	How does behavior relate to time?
Durability	One-off	Repeated	Dependent	Enduring	Norm-Setting
	How does the behavior relate with other behaviors?
Scope	Discrete	Inter-Related	Bundled	Structuring	Pervasive

Table 3. 4 DBC framework, behavioral science approaches, and their coverage of levels and dimensions of the 4 DB framework.

4 DB		Behavior	Approach	Cluster
Dimension	Level	Cycling	Practice theory	Linear	context	Habits	closed
Actor	Individual	x		x	x	x	x
	Interpersonal /Network		x		x	x	x
	Community		x		x	x	x
	Segment /Group	x	x		x	x	x
	Population	x	x		x	x	x
Domain	Psychologically	x		x	x	x	x
	Bodily	x	x		x		x
	Technologically	x	x		x		x
	Institutional /Social	x	x		x		x
	Infrastructural /Environmental	x	x		x		x
Durability	One-off			x	x
	Repeated	x	x			x
	Dependent	x	x		x
	Enduring		x		x	x	x
	Norm-Setting	x	x		x	x	x
Scope	Discrete			x
	Inter-Related	x	x		x		x
	Bundled	x	x		x		x
	Structuring	x	x		x	x	x
	Pervasive		x		x	x	x

Figure 1. Workflow to identify potentially relevant behavioral science approaches.

Table 4. Guiding questions of the 4DB framework applied to behavioral models.

Dimension	Level
Actor	Individual – Is the model focusing on the individual in isolation?
	Interpersonal/Network – Does the model include a close network of people as an influential factor on an individual’s behavior?
	Community – Does the model include communities as factor influencing an individual’s behavior?
	Segment/Group – Does the model include specific groups that influence an individual’s behavior?
	Population – Does the model include society as a whole as a factor that influences an individual’s behavior?
Domain	Psychological – Does the model include psychological processes such as rational choices, individual’s motivation, or heuristics?
	Bodily – Does the model include individuals’ physical abilities as factor influencing an individual’s behavior?
	Technological – Does the model include the role of technology, or tangible objects for an individual’s behavior?
	Institutional/Social – Does the model include the role of intangible structures such as policies, laws, markets, other forms of social, cultural or economic organization?
	Infrastructural/Environmental – Does the model include the role of tangible structures such as infrastructure?
Durability	One-off – Does the model focus on non-repetitive behavior that can be viewed in isolation?
	Repeated – Does the model focus on repeated behavior, such as habits?
	Dependent – Does the model consider the dependency of an individual’s behavior on other factors?
	Enduring – Does the model consider the long-term effects of an individual’s behavior?
	Norm-Setting – Does the model consider behavioral lock ins caused by the execution of a behavior?
Scope	Discrete – Does the model frame behavior as a discrete event that does not impact other factors, the original behavior or the actor?
	Inter-related – Does the model allow behavior being linked to other behaviors through the action itself, or the context or their meaning?
	Bundled – Does the model frame behavior as connected to other behaviors to form behavioral clusters?
	Structuring – Does the model frame behavior as an act that creates structure, which then has an effect on the original behavior?
	Pervasive – Does the model include the role of an individual’s life or lifestyle on an individual’s behavior?

Chatterton, T., & Wilson, C. (2014). The ‘Four dimensions of behaviour’ framework: A tool for characterising behaviours to help design better interventions. Transportation Planning and Technology, 37(1), 38–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/03081060.2013.850257

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