The character arc of B. J. Fogg

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born on 7 August 1963 in Dallas, Texas. Between then and now sit BA and MA degrees in English at Brigham Young University, a student newspaper co-founded in 1986, a Stanford doctorate in communications, a paper on persuasive computers in 1998, the Fogg Behavior Model in 2009, the Tiny Habits method from December 2011 and the book in 2020. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is B. J. Fogg?

The answer was to make it smaller.

He took his first two degrees in English at Brigham Young University, co-founded the Student Review there in 1986, and taught English and design at BYU in 1992 and 1993. Then he went to Stanford for a master's and a doctorate in communications, where he was a teaching assistant to Philip Zimbardo. An English degree is an unusual start for a behaviour scientist, and it shows in how clearly he writes.

At Stanford he founded what was then the Persuasive Technology Lab, now the Behavior Design Lab. His 1998 peer-reviewed paper on persuasive computers named a field that did not have a name; he guest edited an issue of the Association for Computing Machinery on the subject in 1999, published Persuasive Technology as a book in 2003, and ran a mobile health conference from 2008 to 2012. In 2007 he co-taught a Stanford course on building Facebook applications, whose students went on to build a good deal of what everybody now uses.

In 2009 he published the Fogg Behavior Model: behaviour happens when motivation, ability and a prompt arrive at the same moment. It is the most useful three part idea in the field, because it tells you what to change when something is not happening. In December 2011 he developed Tiny Habits, a method that says to make the new behaviour so small it is almost silly, attach it to something already in the day, and celebrate it immediately. Tiny Habits was published as a book in 2020.

The moments

B. J. Fogg's timeline.

The 1980s

~1986

The Student Review

Milestone. A newspaper started by a student, which is a first act of building something.

The 1990s

Sep 1992

Teaching at BYU

Milestone. English and design, taught together, before anybody called that a discipline.

1 Jan 1994

Stay in English, or study behaviour

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: go to Stanford, taken, or stay with English. The lab, the model and the method all sit on this side of the decision, and the writing stayed clear because of what came before it.

Jun 1997

A Stanford doctorate

Milestone, and it changed everything. From English to communications, and into a laboratory.

Jun 1998

Persuasive computers

Milestone, and it changed everything. A paper that named a field which did not yet have a name.

The 2000s

~2003

Persuasive Technology

Milestone, and it changed his direction. The book that made the field teachable.

~2007

The Facebook apps class

Milestone, and it changed his direction. One term, one classroom, and a set of students who went on to build a good deal of what everybody uses.

26 Apr 2009

The Behavior Model

Milestone, and it changed everything. Motivation, ability and a prompt, arriving together. It tells you what to change when nothing is happening.

The 2010s

Dec 2011

Tiny Habits begins

Milestone, and it changed everything. Make it so small it is almost silly, attach it to something already there, and celebrate it at once.

~2012

The Behavior Design Lab

Milestone, and it changed his direction. One laboratory, renamed as the questions it asks changed.

The 2020s

~2020

Tiny Habits, the book

Milestone, and it changed everything. Nine years after the method, the book that took it to everybody else.

The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is the least glamorous and most useful advice in the field: if it is not happening, the step is too big, so make it smaller until it is.

What he wrote

Books by B. J. Fogg

2003
Persuasive Technology
Using computers to change what we think and do. The book that made a new field teachable.
2020
Tiny Habits
The small changes that change everything. Start absurdly small, anchor it to something already in the day, celebrate immediately.

Your turn

Every line draws a unique story.

His argues the whole thing turns on making the first step small enough. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.

Step through

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B. J. Fogg: frequently asked questions

What people ask about his line.

What is B. J. Fogg's character arc?

Two English degrees, a teaching post, then a complete change of field to a Stanford doctorate in communications, a laboratory that named persuasive technology, a model of why people do anything, and a method built on starting absurdly small.

What is the Fogg Behavior Model?

His 2009 account of why behaviour happens: motivation, ability and a prompt have to arrive at the same moment. It is useful because it tells you which of the three to change when something is not happening.

What is B. J. Fogg's Tiny Habits method?

A method he developed in December 2011 and published as a book in 2020. Make the new behaviour so small that it is almost silly, attach it to something already in your day, and celebrate it immediately.

What is B. J. Fogg's Stanford lab?

The Behavior Design Lab, which he founded and directs, and which was formerly called the Persuasive Technology Lab. The renaming follows the change in what the lab studies rather than any change of address.

Did B. J. Fogg teach the Facebook apps class?

He co-taught a Stanford course on building Facebook applications in 2007. Its students went on to build a good deal of what people now use every day, which is a large outcome from one term of teaching.

What did B. J. Fogg study?

He took his BA and MA degrees in English at Brigham Young University and then MA and PhD degrees in communications at Stanford, where he was a teaching assistant to the psychologist Philip Zimbardo.

What is persuasive technology by B. J. Fogg?

The field his 1998 paper named, covering the ways computers change what people think and do. He guest edited an issue of the Association for Computing Machinery on it in 1999 and published a book in 2003.

Where does this timeline of B. J. Fogg's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. B. J. Fogg isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to him.

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Sources

B. J. Fogg, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
Stanford University, Behavior Design Lab, formerly the Persuasive Technology Lab.
Publisher records for Persuasive Technology and Tiny Habits.