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BY force of habit

Dr. Benjamin gardner5th April 2016 Department of Psychology

Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience

Unlocking the secrets of habits and behaviour change in relation to ehealth

What is habit,and how does it form?

What is ‘habit’?

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Habits versus behaviourGardner (2015)- Behaviour:- ‘anything a person does’- Behaving = doing

- Habit: - ‘a process whereby exposure to a cue

automatically generates an impulse to act, based on learned cue-action associations’

- Habitual behaviour:- ‘any action that is controlled by habit’

Automaticity and frequencyGardner (2012)

Frequent Infrequent

Automatic

Frequent habitual

behaviour

Infrequent habitual

behaviour

Reflective

Frequent non-habitual

behaviour

Infrequent non-habitual

behaviour

- Habitual behaviour proceeds in the absence of:- Awareness

- Conscious control- Intention

- Mental effort(Bargh, 1994)

‘Checking your smartphone’ as a habitual behaviour

- Repetitive-Automatic response to notifications, or to boredom

-Frustration of impulse to check causes agitation- Can be irritating – but you do it anyway

(Oulasvirta et al, 2011)

How long does it take for habit to form?Lally, van Jaarsveld, Potts & Wardle (2010)

• 96 participants– Performed a new healthy eating, drinking or

exercise behaviour...– Once a day, every day

• Each day, participants reported– automaticity of behaviour (i.e. habit)– whether bhvr performed

• Participants tracked over 12 weeks

How long does it take for habit to form?Lally, van Jaarsveld, Potts & Wardle (2010)

• Median time for habit to peak = 66 days

• (NOT 21 days!)

• Range: 18-254 days

• Simpler actions tended to become habitual quicker

How long does it take for habit to form?Lally, van Jaarsveld, Potts & Wardle (2010)

Why does habit matter?

When habits and intentions conflict…Neal, Wood, Wu & Kurlander (2011)• 105 cinema-goers

• ‘Personality study’

• Watched and rated 15mins of trailers

• Given either fresh or stale (1 week old) popcorn

• Stale popcorn rated as less pleasant than fresh popcorn

Habits override conscious preferences

If habits override intentions…Lally & Gardner (2013)• Making ‘good habits’ may ‘lock in’

desirable behaviours

• Forming habits could help to maintain behaviour change

• Changing conscious motivation may be insufficient to break ‘bad habits’

• Need to break cue-response link

Habit and behaviour change:

How to form new habits

Repeat the behaviour consistently in the same context

Habit-formation adviceLally & Gardner (2013)

Stages of habit-formationLally & Gardner (2013)

The COM-B frameworkMichie, van Stralen & West (2011)

Initiation vs maintenance motivation

InitiationGetting behaviour up and runningDetermined by appeal of expected outcomes

MaintenanceContinuing to do the behaviourDetermined by satisfaction with actual outcomes

If outcomes not attained, or not as favourable as expected, likely to disengage

Principles of habit formationGardner et al (2012)

1) Make it easy

Brady (2015)

Principles of habit formation

1) Make it easy

Principles of habit formation

2) Capitalise on intrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation:•A desire to do something for pleasure or satisfaction inherent in the activity

Extrinsic motivation:•A desire to do something in response to external pressures, or to achieve external rewards (e.g. money)

Principles of habit formation

People who are intrinsically motivated to be physically active:

•Have stronger intentions to be active

•Are more likely to initiate physical activity

•Are more likely to maintain physical activity

•Tend to have stronger physical activity habits (Gardner & Lally, 2013)

2) Capitalise on intrinsic motivation

Principles of habit formation

3) Make it (intrinsically) rewarding

Intrinsic rewards:•Non-tangible rewards intrinsic to the individual receiving them•e.g. satisfaction, accomplishment, social acceptance, praise

Extrinsic rewards:•Tangible rewards external to the individual•e.g. money, material possessions

3) Make it (intrinsically) rewarding

Principles of habit formation

• Behaviour change experience should be rewarding• Intrinsic rewards are those that promote:– Autonomy– Competence– Social connectedness

4) Track your progress

Principles of habit formation

• Monitoring behaviour is the most effective technique for changing behaviour (Michie et al, 2009)

• Positive feedback delivers an intrinsic reward

5) Choose appropriate cues

Principles of habit formation

• Frequent habitual behaviour depends on frequently encountering cues– e.g. Prior action? Location? Time of day?

• Choose cues thematically related to behaviour– e.g. flossing after brushing (Judah, Gardner & Aunger, 2013)

A word or twoabout breaking habits

How to break habits?

Changing behaviour, or breaking habit?

•Behaviour may be changed by(a) avoiding cues(b) inhibiting habit impulse(c) overwriting habits

•(a) & (b) behaviour change only•(c) behaviour and habit change

How to break habits?

• Behaviour change only can risk relapse due to ‘dormant habits’ (Gardner, 2015)

• ’Dormant habits’ = long-held habits reactivated by re-exposure to cues

• Overwriting habits requires(a) identifying cues to existing habits(b) consistently repeating new responses to cues

Making habits: Summary

Principles for making habits- Make it easy- Capitalise on intrinsic motivation- Make it intrinsically rewarding- Track progress- Choose appropriate cues / reminders

Principles for breaking habits- Avoid cues- Inhibit responses- Develop new responses to cues

THANK YOUBenjamin.gardner@kcl.ac.uk@drbengardner