Module 10 · The science in depth · Research-supported

The Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy

93 techniques in 16 groups — the shared language behind this lab’s library.

7 min read · Level: Advanced · Free — no account needed to read

The problem it solves

Is there a shared language for the techniques that change behaviour?

The concept

The Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy (version 1) lists 93 distinct techniques in 16 groups, agreed by an international panel of experts. Its purpose is reporting: so researchers can say exactly what an intervention did, and reviews can compare like with like.

The 16 groups include goals and planning, feedback and monitoring, social support, shaping knowledge, natural consequences, comparison of behaviour, associations, repetition and substitution, comparison of outcomes, reward and threat, regulation, antecedents, identity, scheduled consequences, self-belief and covert learning.

Habit Lab’s technique library is built on this taxonomy, translated into plain language. Each technique shows the taxonomy codes it draws on — so you can look further if you’re curious.

Why it matters

A shared taxonomy separates what a technique is from how well it works, and lets research across many studies be combined honestly.

Research-supported: Good studies support it, but there are fewer of them, the effects are modest, or they come from a narrow set of situations.

See it happen

Two apps both claim to “use behavioural science”.

The ordinary first approach

Both must be equally scientific.

With the idea

Using the taxonomy, you can ask which techniques each actually uses — say, self-monitoring and prompts versus action planning and feedback.

What changed

“Behavioural science” became a list of specific, checkable techniques.

Easy to get wrong

• Treating the taxonomy as a ranking of which techniques work best.
• Assuming more techniques in one programme means a better programme.
• Using the codes as jargon instead of as a map.

Try it now: Name your techniques

1. Pick one of your habits.
2. List every technique you’re using — cue, tracking, reward, plan, support.
3. Open the Technique library and match each to a taxonomy code.

Apply it to one of your habits

For one of your habits, which techniques are you already using, and which group is missing?

Reflect

• Which group of techniques do you rely on most?

Go deeper — evidence & sources

• Michie, Richardson, Johnston, Abraham, Francis, Hardeman and colleagues (2013). The Behavior Change Technique Taxonomy (v1) of 93 Hierarchically Clustered Techniques. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. doi:10.1007/s12160-013-9486-6
• UCL Centre for Behaviour Change
• The Behaviour Change Wheel — Susan Michie, Lou Atkins & Robert West (2014)