Wake up and smell the habit: Study finds we overlook the influence of habits — like drinking coffee
A USC study published this month in Psychological Science found participants underestimated the role of habit in their behaviors — including their coffee consumption.
“People may consume coffee out of habit — for example, you may automatically follow a coffee drinking routine when you wake up or go on your morning commute, regardless of how tired you are,” said study author Asaf Mazar, a doctoral candidate in psychology at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
That automatic triggering of behavior, versus conscious intentions, is what makes a behavior a habit, explained Mazar.
“Much of what we do every day is habitual, but we are reluctant to acknowledge our habits and instead chalk our behaviors up to our mood and our intentions,” said study author Wendy Wood, Provost Professor of Psychology and Business at USC Dornsife and the USC Marshall School of Business.
To investigate just how much people underestimate the influence of habits, Mazar and Wood asked study participants what drives their coffee consumption. The respondents said fatigue was about twice as important as habit in prompting their coffee drinking.
Next, the researchers tracked the study participants over the course of one week, recording their coffee drinking and tiredness every two hours. In contrast to the participants’ explanations, habit was just as strong an influence on coffee consumption as feeling tired.
“We found that the participants strongly overestimated the effect of tiredness on their coffee consumption and underestimated the effect of habit,” said Mazar.
Habits influenced behaviors
The researchers also conducted an experiment with online participants who initially recalled a negative, positive or neutral memory. They then engaged in an exercise in which they repeatedly pressed either a left-hand or right-hand key. Finally, they were asked if they would like to complete additional trials of the experiment to assist the researchers. Participants indicated their willingness to help by pressing a highly practiced or less practiced key.
Those who had earlier extensively practiced the “no” response key were more likely to decline the request for help, compared with participants who practiced the “yes” and “no” response keys equally.
While participants were more likely to ascribe their willingness to help to their mood, the results demonstrated the responses had far more to do with the key-pressing habits they adopted during the experiment.
Pay more attention to good and bad habits
The study authors say that the gap between the actual and perceived role of habits in our lives explains why Americans have such a hard time changing ongoing, repeated behaviors — such as maintaining a steady exercise program and a healthy diet.
“To effectively change behavior, Americans must acknowledge that much of our behavior is habitual and automatic,” said Mazar. “Habits can keep us repeating unwanted behaviors, but they can also keep us on track in maintaining desirable ones, like working out or recycling.”
It may sound obvious, said Wood, “but it’s not what you know; it’s what you do.”