The Psychology of Habit: Theory, Mechanisms, Change, and Contexts

413 Pages·2018·6 MB·English

by  Bas Verplanken

Bas Verplanken Editor
The
Psychology
of Habit
Theory, Mechanisms, Change, and
Contexts
The Psychology of Habit
Bas Verplanken
Editor
The Psychology of Habit
Theory, Mechanisms, Change, and Contexts
Editor
Bas Verplanken
Department of Psychology
University of Bath
Bath, UK
ISBN 978-3-319-97528-3 ISBN 978-3-319-97529-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97529-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018958631
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Preface
It is surprising how little research has been conducted on habits compared to other
phenomena, given that habits govern much of what we are doing during our waking
hours. My own interest in the concept started with the realisation that habits did not
seem to sit comfortably with the expectancy-value and socio-cognitive models that
dominate the attitude-behaviour domain in social psychology, which was the niche
I grew up with as an academic. I was further inspired by Alice Eagly and Shelly
Chaiken’s seminal book The psychology of attitudes, published in 1993, in which
they reviewed habit research and incorporated the concept in their composite model
of the attitude-behaviour relation. These authors concluded that research on habits
had not seen much progress due to a lack of proper measures.
Twenty-five years later, I am confident to say that progress has been made in
habit research. This is evident in a variety of ways. Wendy Wood recently provided
bibliographic evidence that after a long period of popularity during the first three
decades of the twentieth century and a steady decline to an all-time low in the sec-
ond half of that century, the use of the term habit increased sharply in the last
20 years among authors of popular and scientific books. Habit also appeared for the
first time as an entry in the Annual Review of Psychology. And the concept is receiv-
ing more attention in contemporary textbooks. Thus, the present volume, The psy-
chology of habit, can be considered as another testimony that progress has been
made. The concept of habit has definitely (re)gained a position in the portfolio of
researchers in a diverse array of domains. Importantly, much work has been done on
theory, mechanisms, and measurement. This established a solid basis for further
progress and adds value to the application of habit theory, for instance in the design
of novel behaviour change strategies or policy making with respect to the many prob-
lems our societies are facing. I hope this book will contribute to that development.
Of course, many questions remain to be answered, and this volume is not shying
away from critical views and unfinished debates.
I am indebted first and foremost to all authors and co-authors of this volume. I am
immensely proud to see this selection of distinguished researchers brought together.
I particularly want to express my gratitude to three scholars who have been highly
significant on my journey of habit research over the past 25 years: Henk Aarts,
v
vi Preface
Sheina Orbell, and Wendy Wood. I thank all authors who have been so kind to
review chapters, and Fiona Gillison, Eve Legrand, Caitlin Lloyd, and Greg Maio,
who served as external reviewers. I also thank Morgan Ryan of Springer for her
support and confidence in this book project. And last but not least I thank my dear
wife Nona for her love and support, which hugely contributed to making this book
see the light of day.
Bath, UK Bas Verplanken
21 June 2018
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Bas Verplanken
Part I Theory, Measurement, and Mechanisms
2 Defining Habit in Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Asaf Mazar and Wendy Wood
3 The Measurement of Habit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Amanda L. Rebar, Benjamin Gardner, Ryan E. Rhodes,
and Bas Verplanken
4 Understanding the Formation of Human Habits:
An Analysis of Mechanisms of Habitual Behaviour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Hans Marien, Ruud Custers, and Henk Aarts
5 Habit Mechanisms and Behavioural Complexity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Barbara Mullan and Elizaveta Novoradovskaya
6 Physical Activity Habit: Complexities and Controversies . . . . . . . . . . 91
Ryan E. Rhodes and Amanda L. Rebar
7 Technology Habits: Progress, Problems, and Prospects . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Joseph B. Bayer and Robert LaRose
8 The Strategic Effects of State-Dependent
Consumer Preferences: The Roles of Habits
and Variety Seeking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Raphael Thomadsen and P. B. (Seethu) Seetharaman
Part II Breaking and Creating Habits
9 Habit Modification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Raymond G. Miltenberger and Claire A. Spieler
vii
viii Contents
10 Breaking Habits Using Implementation Intentions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Marieke A. Adriaanse and Aukje Verhoeven
11 Cracks in the Wall: Habit Discontinuities
as Vehicles for Behaviour Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Bas Verplanken, Deborah Roy, and Lorraine Whitmarsh
12 Modelling Habit Formation and Its Determinants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Benjamin Gardner and Phillippa Lally
13 Using N-of-1 Methods to Explore Habit Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Dominika Kwasnicka, Beatrice M. Konrad,
Ian M. Kronish, and Karina W. Davidson
14 Creating and Breaking Habit in Healthcare
Professional Behaviours to Improve Healthcare and Health . . . . . . . 247
Sebastian Potthoff, Nicola McCleary, Falko F. Sniehotta,
and Justin Presseau
15 Habits in Depression: Understanding and Intervention . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Ed Watkins, Matt Owens, and Lorna Cook
16 The Role of Habits in Maladaptive Behaviour
and Therapeutic Interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Aukje Verhoeven and Sanne de Wit
17 Recovery Habits: A Habit Perspective on Recovery
from Substance Use Disorder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Inna Arnaudova, Hortensia Amaro, and John Monterosso
Part III Critical Questions and Prospects
18 A Critical Review of Habit Theory of Drug Dependence . . . . . . . . . . 325
Lee Hogarth
19 Habits and Autism: Restricted, Repetitive
Patterns of Behaviour and Thinking in Autism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Ailsa Russell and Mark Brosnan
20 Mind Wandering: More than a Bad Habit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Claire M. Zedelius, Madeleine E. Gross,
and Jonathan W. Schooler
21 The Automaticity of Habitual Behaviours:
Inconvenient Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
David Trafimow
22 Progress and Prospects in Habit Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
Sheina Orbell and Bas Verplanken
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Contributors
Henk  Aarts Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The
Netherlands
Marieke A. Adriaanse Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Hortensia Amaro Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine and Robert Stempel
College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, Miami,
FL, USA
Inna Arnaudova Department of Psychology, University of Southern California,
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Joseph B. Bayer The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
Mark Brosnan Centre for Applied Autism Research, University of Bath, Bath, UK
Lorna Cook SMART Lab, School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter,
UK
Ruud  Custers Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The
Netherlands
Karina W. Davidson Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health, Columbia
University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
Sanne de Wit Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The
Netherlands
Benjamin Gardner Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology
and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
Madeleine E. Gross University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA,
USA
ix
x Contributors
Lee Hogarth School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Washington Singer
Building, Exeter, UK
Beatrice M. Konrad Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health, Columbia
University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
Ian M. Kronish Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health, Columbia University
Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
Dominika Kwasnicka Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Psychology, Curtin
University, Perth, WA, Australia
Phillippa  Lally Department of Behavioural Science and Health, University
College London, London, UK
Robert LaRose Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
Hans  Marien Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The
Netherlands
Asaf  Mazar Department of Psychology, University of Southern California,
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Nicola McCleary Centre for Implementation Research, Clinical Epidemiology
Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada
School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON,
Canada
Raymond G. Miltenberger University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
John Monterosso Department of Psychology, University of Southern California,
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Barbara Mullan Health Psychology and Behavioural Medicine Research Group,
Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Psychology, Curtin University, Perth, WA,
Australia
Elizaveta  Novoradovskaya Health Psychology and Behavioural Medicine
Research Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Psychology, Curtin
University, Perth, WA, Australia
Sheina Orbell Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Essex, UK
Matt Owens SMART Lab, School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter,
UK
Sebastian Potthoff Department of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, Northumbria
University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Justin  Presseau Centre for Implementation Research, Clinical Epidemiology
Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada
School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON,
Canada
School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada