Table 1.

List of 26 mechanisms of action rated for links with behavior change techniques

Mechanism label	Mechanism definition
Knowledge	An awareness of the existence of something
Skills	An ability or proficiency acquired through practice
Social/Professional Role and Identity	A coherent set of behaviors and displayed personal qualities of an individual in a social or work setting
Beliefs about Capabilities	Beliefs about one’s ability to successfully carry out a behavior
Optimism	Confidence that things will happen for the best or that desired goals will be attained
Beliefs about Consequences	Beliefs about the consequences of a behavior (i.e., perceptions about what will be achieved and/ or lost by undertaking a behavior, as well as the probability that a behavior will lead to a specific outcome)
Reinforcement	Processes by which the frequency or probability of a response is increased through a dependent relationship or contingency with a stimulus or circumstance
Intentions	A conscious decision to perform a behavior or a resolve to act in a certain way
Goals	Mental representations of outcomes or end states that an individual wants to achieve
Memory, Attention, and Decision Processes	Ability to retain information, focus on aspects of the environment, and choose between two or more alternatives
Environmental Context and Resources	Aspects of a person’s situation or environment that discourage or encourage the behavior
Social Influences	Those interpersonal processes that can cause oneself to change one’s thoughts, feelings, or behaviors
Emotion	A complex reaction pattern involving experiential, behavioral, and physiological elements
Behavioral Regulation	Behavioral, cognitive, and/or emotional skills for managing or changing behavior
Norms	The attitudes held and behaviors exhibited by other people within a social group
Subjective Norms	One’s perceptions of what most other people within a social group believe and do
Attitude towards the Behavior	The general evaluations of the behavior on a scale ranging from negative to positive
Motivation	Processes relating to the impetus that gives purpose or direction to behavior and operates at a conscious or unconscious level
Self-image	One’s conception and evaluation of oneself, including psychological and physical characteristics, qualities, and skills
Needs	Deficit of something required for survival, well-being, or personal fulfilment
Values	Moral, social or aesthetic principles accepted by an individual or society as a guide to what is good, desirable, or important
Feedback Processes	Processes through which current behavior is compared against a particular standard
Social Learning/Imitation	A process by which thoughts, feelings, and motivational states observed in others are internalized and replicated without the need for conscious awareness
Behavioral Cueing	Processes by which behavior is triggered from either the external environment, the performance of another behavior, or from ideas appearing in consciousness
General Attitudes/Beliefs	Evaluations of an object, person, group, issue, or concept on a scale ranging from negative to positive
Perceived Susceptibility/Vulnerability	Perceptions of the likelihood that one is vulnerable to a threat