As people, we face hundreds of decisions every day – what to
eat for breakfast, what shoes to wear, when to go to bed, and many more.
However, I don’t tend to go through piles of paper each day making pro-and-con
lists, feeling morally obliged to eat yogurt over toast, or considering what
friends would rate as a good writing utensil to take notes with; I just do it.
In class, we’ve discussed (or will discuss) four models to
describe behavior, which include social, attitude, and logical factors. Previous
experience and habit have been discussed in this context as well but are generally
consider to be “accounted for” in other factors. In the process of interviewing
several sources on their commutes to work, habit was identified as a major
reason why they and their coworkers drive to work. This seems to suggest that
the influence of habit should be accounted for more directly.
Habits consist of three-parts: a cue to engage autopilot,
the routine behavior, and the reward. For example, when my alarm goes off in
the morning (the trigger), the sound is annoying so I hit snooze (the behavior).
This allows me to stay within the warm blankets of my bed for a few more
minutes (the reward). This cycle makes the activity stick – the cue provides a
reminder and opportunities to perform the action, and the reward associates it
with positive emotions.
While habits may conjure up images of nail-biters, junk-food
eaters, smokers, and nose-pickers, I’d argue that pro-environmental habit-creation
is a goal for our behavior interventions. Changing or creating habits takes time. Once
habits are formed, however, they are highly durable. Habits reduce
the decision-making and mental attention required for a given activity and free
up attention to be used for new behaviors. By including behavioral context
(i.e. consequences of behavior, responsibility, obligation) in the reward, the
positive emotions triggered could encourage additional behavior. For example,
creating a habit of turning off lights in unoccupied rooms at home could
encourage someone to turn off lights at work/school, to conserve resources like
water, or to take the stairs rather than an elevator. Forming a habit of carpooling
to work with a friend could snowball into more deliberate car trips, grocery
shopping expeditions that prevent food waste, or bringing a homemade lunch to
work instead of driving to get fast food.
What are the pros and cons associated with a habit-focused
approach as compared to an intention-focused approach? Will something similar
work for larger behavior changes, such as reducing flying for vacations? Could a
behavior change be purely focused on forming a habit be successful, or are factors
such as norm activation and education inherently necessary?
Sources
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