Emotions are structured biological signals.
TEG-Blue makes them legible.
Open science — transparent research, credited sources, testable claims. Built on 145+ established theories. Open to critique and validation.
The building blocks are validated science. The connections are the hypothesis.
When the body can't restore itself, something else steps in.
A single thread runs through all twelve frameworks. Describing a regulation substitute — at a different scale, at a different cost, and a way to reverse the thread — not by adding another substitute, but by building the original.
What evidence supports the four-mode gradient?
The four-mode gradient has been tested against 10,000+ natural conflict narratives. Here are the key findings.
Empirical Validation — Four-Mode Gradient Framework
Computational analysis of unstructured text. Four regulatory modes reliably detected. De-escalators showed significantly higher rates of self-awareness, perspective-taking, and emotional differentiation. Mode classifications correlated with independent community moral judgments.
What is TEG-Blue?
An integrative architecture that maps how nervous system states shape emotional behavior — and what it takes to move between them. Organized as four connected parts:
1 — Measurement
Four Foundational Models
Emotions as Signals (M1) maps what the nervous system delivers. Nervous System States (M2) maps where the nervous system is pointing. Regulation Capacities (M3) describes the body's designed return path. Awareness Capacities (M4) explain how accurately it reads — and what goes offline when it gets stuck.
Core Models →2 — Explanatory
12 Frameworks
Why these patterns exist, how they escalate from one person into social systems, and what makes repair possible. One mechanism runs through all twelve: when the body's natural return path is missing, something else steps in.
12 Frameworks →3 — Applied
Emotional Tools
Gradient-based scales that map behavioral dimensions from regulated to dysregulated, with observable markers at every point. Empathy, accountability, integrity, boundary dynamics, and more.
Explore Tools →4 — AI Safety
Structured Schemas
A computationally legible translation of the system for AI alignment — designed to replace binary safe/unsafe classifications with contextual, state-aware assessments.
AI Safety →The full architecture, including how the parts connect, is at System Overview. The 145+ source theories are documented at Scientific Foundations.
Open science — no gates, no applications
Everything here is published under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. No access restrictions. No required collaborations. A researcher can take the framework, the data, and the methodology and work with them independently.
How this work is sustained
The application site (teg-blue.com) offers paid tools to fund ongoing research and development. These tiers do not create dependency loops or exploit emotional vulnerability for engagement. The research — the frameworks, the models, the data — stays open.