PRIME theory
A synthesis of motivation in which moment-to-moment behavior is governed by plans, responses, impulses, motives, and evaluations.
What it means
PRIME theory organizes the human motivational system into five interacting levels — Plans (conscious intentions plus commitment), Responses (starting, stopping, or modifying acts), Impulses and inhibitions (urges felt in the moment), Motives (wants and needs), and Evaluations (beliefs about what is good or bad). Its core claim is that behavior is controlled by the strongest impulse or inhibition at each instant, so reflective plans steer action only insofar as they shape those momentary forces. This makes the theory unusually good at explaining lapses and addiction, where a long-held plan repeatedly loses to an immediate impulse. Developed from a review of more than thirty motivation theories, it is integrative rather than offering a single new mechanism, which is both its strength and the basis of the critique that it is hard to falsify. It matters because it reframes self-control as managing the instant of choice, not as the triumph of reason over desire.
Examples
A smoker's firm plan to quit is overridden the moment a craving (impulse) outweighs it, exactly as PRIME predicts — so effective help targets the impulse, not just the resolve.
Someone with a firm plan to eat better opens the biscuits at eleven at night. The plan never gets a vote — the moment goes to whichever urge is strongest then.
The 6am run is decided at 6am, not the night before, which is why laying out your shoes beats resolving harder: it changes the impulse rather than the intention.
First described in Robert West, 'Theory of Addiction' (2006).