Background:
“Studies suggest that relying on willpower is hopeless. Instead, we must find strategies that don’t require us to be strong.
In the modern era, habits have become a significant area of scientific inquiry. Psychologists have explored the genesis of habitual behavior and its impact on health and happiness. William James, echoing Aristotle, wrote, ‘All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits,—practical, emotional, and intellectual . . bearing us irresistibly toward our destiny.”
From: Groopman, Jerome. (2019). Can brain science help us break bad habits? The New Yorker. [PDF] [Cited by]
Sources:
*Wood, W. (2019). Good Habits, Bad Habits: A practical guide to mastering your mind and making positive changes that stick. Pan Macmillan. [Cited by]
“We spend a shocking 43 percent of our day doing things without thinking about them. That means that almost half of our actions aren’t conscious choices but the result of our non-conscious mind nudging our body to act along learned behaviors. How we respond to the people around us; the way we conduct ourselves in a meeting; what we buy; when and how we exercise, eat, and drink—a truly remarkable number of things we do every day, regardless of their complexity, operate outside of our awareness. We do them automatically. We do them by habit. And yet, whenever we want to change something about ourselves, we rely on willpower. We keep turning to our conscious selves, hoping that our determination and intention will be enough to effect positive change. And that is why almost all of us fail. But what if you could harness the extraordinary power of your unconscious mind, which already determines so much of what you do, to truly reach your goals.”
*Duhigg, C. (2012). The power of habit : why we do what we do in life and business. Random House. [Cited by]
“Over time, this loop–cue, routine, reward; cue, rountine, reward–becomes more and more automatic. The cue and reward become intertwined until a powerful sense of anticipation and craving emerges. Eventually … a habit is born.
When a habit emerges, the brain stops fully participating in decision making. It stops working so hard, or diverts focus to other tasks. So unless you deliberately fight a habit–unless you find new routines–the pattern will unfold automatically.”
*Graybiel, A. M., & Smith, K. S. (2014). Good Habits, Bad Habits. Scientific American, 310(6), 38–43. [Cited by]
“Every day we all engage in a surprising number of habitual behaviors. Many of them, from brushing our teeth to driving a familiar route, simply allow us to do certain things on autopilot so that our brains are not overtaxed by concentrating on each brushstroke and countless tiny adjustments of the steering wheel. Other habits, such as jogging, may help keep us healthy. Regularly popping treats from the candy dish may not. And habits that wander into the territory of compulsions or addictions, such as overeating or smoking, can threaten our existence.”
*Jager, W. (2003). Breaking ‘bad habits’: a dynamical perspective on habit formation and change. In W. Jager, L. Hendrickx, & L. Steg (Eds.), Human Decision Making and Environmental Perception. Understanding and Assisting Human Decision Making in Real-life Settings. Liber Americum for Charles Vlek. University of Groningen. [PDF] [Cited by]
“Much of our daily behaviour is habitual. Habits are defined as behaviours that are performed with a minimum of cognitive effort. Habits allow for an effective use of our limited cognitive capacities. However, due to this automatising of behaviour, habits are less susceptible for change than reasoned behaviour. Especially when a habit provides positive outcomes in the present but detrimental outcomes on the long run, one can speak of a ‘bad habit’. Such ‘bad habits’ are hard to change because cognitive information on negative outcomes will hardly affect the automatised behavioural scripts. This chapter describes the emergence of habits from a dynamical perspective. This implies that a perspective is drawn on what type of processes play a role at what stage in the development of a habit. This dynamical perspective provides indications for effective strategies to break habits.”
Questions? Please let me know (engelk@grinnell.edu).
