Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
A framework for creating products that form user habits
"Habits are one of the ways the brain learns complex behaviors."
— Nir Eyal
My Review
Eyal's Hook Model describes how to create behavioral conditioning in products. From a biological perspective, this is operant conditioning design - creating reinforcement loops that shape user behavior. Ethically complex but mechanistically important.
Why It Matters
Understanding how habits form is essential for product design. Eyal's framework describes operant conditioning at product scale.
Key Ideas
- The Hook Model: Trigger → Action → Variable Reward → Investment
- Variable rewards are more engaging than predictable ones
- Investment increases commitment and future triggers
- Internal triggers are more powerful than external ones
How It Connects to This Framework
The behavioral conditioning concepts in Book 5 (Communication & Signaling) and the feedback loop material throughout.
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The full Biology of Business book explores these concepts in depth with practical frameworks.