In the COM-B model, what are the three core components?

• A. Capability, Opportunity, Motivation
• B. Cognition, Health Literacy, Self-Efficacy
• C. External Factors, Reinforcement, Attitudes
• D. Environment, Knowledge, Skills

Answer: (A)

The main idea in this model is that behavior arises from the interaction of three components: capability, opportunity, and motivation. Capability means having the physical and psychological ability to perform the behavior—this includes skills, knowledge, and the mental capacity to carry it out. Opportunity covers the external conditions that make acting possible or easier, such as the physical environment and social cues or norms. Motivation encompasses the internal processes that energize and direct behavior, including both reflective processes like planning and evaluating options and automatic processes like habits and impulses. Together, these three areas interact to produce behavior, so the option that lists capability, opportunity, and motivation is the correct one. The other options mix terms that don’t form the official trio, such as focusing on cognition or health literacy, or referencing reinforcement or attitudes, or pairing environment with knowledge and skills rather than the three core components.