The Self-Align Vector Awareness System (SAVA) : A Minimal Action-Centered Framework for Identity Change Under Bio-Ontological Constraint

The Self-Align Vector Awareness System (SAVA) is a minimal, action-centred conceptual framework that defines psychological transformation as identity change evidenced by sustained Psychological Cost Reduction (PCR) across repeated comparable contexts.Rather than treating change as symptom relief, insight, motivation, or narrative satisfaction, SAVA introduces PCR as an operational criterion: a durable reduction in internal resistance, regulatory load, and maintenance effort required to act in alignment over time. Transformation, under this framework, is inferred only when resistance cost decreases across repeated instances of the same type of situation.SAVA compresses its core architecture into a heuristic relation ΔI ≈ (T × A × M) / IM, where Tension (T) represents misalignment-generated pressure, Aim coherence (A) stabilises direction under predictable discomfort, Meta-awareness (M) enables regulation and correction, and Identity Mass (IM) captures resistance to identity change. The system explicitly integrates Bio-Ontological Constraint (BOC) as a non-negotiable reality-cost boundary governing trade-offs, consequences, and irreversibility.A central contribution of the framework is its four-class outcome taxonomy, which distinguishes:True Alignment (PCR observed),False Alignment (relief without PCR),Coerced-Action Fragmentation (compliance with coherence loss), andNull-Stabilisation (non-change under insufficient agency or containment).These outcome classes are descriptive rather than moral and are designed to reduce category errors commonly found in change narratives.The manuscript specifies explicit applicability boundaries, pacing and abort rules, and falsification conditions, and includes a preregister-ready micro-pilot protocol using behavioural proxies (e.g., resistance-cost trajectories, avoidance latency, coherence stability) rather than introspective self-report alone.This work is presented as a pre-empirical conceptual framework, intended for critical evaluation and empirical testing. It does not claim clinical efficacy and is not proposed as a replacement for psychotherapy, medication, or other established interventions. AI-based language tools were used for editing and formatting support; all theoretical structure and substantive claims are authored by the researcher.