The CMEBE model: an integrative embodied account of behaviour and behaviour change

Behavioural models and theories are useful because they help researchers, practitioners and policy-makers understand human behaviour and characterise behaviour change interventions. Such frameworks guide decisions about where to focus efforts and finite resources – across individual, community and population levels. However, existing models of behaviour often prioritise social and psychological constructs over the embodied aspects of individuals. This paper introduces a new approach: the CMEBE model – an integrative, embodied account of human behaviour grounded in behavioural science and informed by neuroscience. In the CMEBE model, behaviour emerges as a dynamic process arising from continuous interactions among four systems which together bridge experience, embodiment and context: the Conscious Mind (CM), Embodied Brain (E1), and Body (B) which are located within the individual, and the Environment (E2) which is external to the individual. By explicitly situating consciousness within the broader biological and environmental systems from which it arises, the CMEBE model bridges methodological and explanatory gaps between lived experiences and mechanistic accounts of behaviour and behaviour change. The CMEBE model offers an integrative, embodied approach to behaviour and behaviour change for researchers, practitioners and policy-makers. Ultimately, the test of the CMEBE model will be whether it explains behaviour more effectively and supports clearer design, targeting and characterisation of behaviour change interventions than existing models.