People automatically repeat behaviors that were frequently rewarded in the past in a given context. Such repetition is commonly attributed to habit, or associations in memory between a context and a response. Once habits form, contexts directly activate the response in mind. An opposing view is that habitual behaviors depend on goals. However, we show that this view is challenged by the goal independence of habits across the fields of social and health psychology, behavioral neuroscience, animal learning, and computational modeling. It also is challenged by direct tests revealing that habits do not depend on implicit goals. Furthermore, we show that two features of habit memory—rapid activation of specific responses and resistance to change—explain the different conditions under which people act on habit versus persuing goals. Finally, we tested these features with a novel secondary analysis of action-slip data. We found that habitual responses are activated regardless of goals, but they can be performed in concert with goal pursuit.

We review definitions of habit and evaluate how well current measures capture these definitions. Habits are context-behavior associations in memory that develop as people repeatedly experience rewards for a given action in a given context. Habitual behavior is cued directly by context and does not require supporting goals and conscious intentions. As we explain, goals are important to initiate behavior repetition and to inhibit unwanted habit performance, and in addition can be inferred from habits. To date, research has relied on selfreport methods to measure habit. These measures, by themselves, may fall short of adequately testing key features of habit, such as context dependence, or dissociating habitual and nonhabitual influences on behavior. By augmenting self-reports with implicit, behavioral, and ecological momentary assessment methods, researchers can gain a more complete understanding of habits and their role in shaping behavior.

We review definitions of habit and evaluate how well current measures capture these definitions. Habits are context-behavior associations in memory that develop as people repeatedly experience rewards for a given action in a given context. Habitual behavior is cued directly by context and does not require supporting goals and conscious intentions. As we explain, goals are important to initiate behavior repetition and to inhibit unwanted habit performance, and in addition can be inferred from habits. To date, research has relied on self-report methods to measure habit. These measures, by themselves, may fall short of adequately testing key features of habit, such as context dependence, or dissociating habitual and non-habitual influences on behavior. By augmenting self-reports with implicit, behavioral, and ecological momentary assessment methods, researchers can gain a more complete understanding of habits and their role in shaping behavior.

People automatically repeat behaviors that were frequently rewarded in the past in a given context. Such repetition is commonly attributed to habit, or associations in memory between a context and a response. Once habits form, contexts directly activate the response in mind. An opposing view is that habitual behaviors depend on goals. However, we show that this view is challenged by the goal independence of habits across the fields of social and health psychology, behavioral neuroscience, animal learning, and computational modeling. It also is challenged by direct tests revealing that habits do not depend on implicit goals. Furthermore, we show that two features of habit memory—rapid activation of specific responses and resistance to change—explain the different conditions under which people act on habit or pursue goals Finally, we test these features with a novel secondary analysis of action-slip data. We find that habitual responses are activated regardless of goals, but can be performed in concert with goal pursuit.

Habits underlie much of human behavior. However, people may prefer agentic accounts that overlook habits in favor of inner states, such as mood. We tested this misattribution hypothesis in an online experiment of helping behavior ( N = 809 adults) as well as in an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study of U.S. college students’ everyday coffee drinking ( N = 112). Both studies revealed a substantial gap between perceived and actual drivers of behavior: Habit strength outperformed or matched inner states in predicting behavior, but participants’ explanations of their behavior emphasized inner states. Participants continued to misattribute habits to inner states when incentivized for accuracy and when explaining other people’s behavior. We discuss how this misperception could adversely influence self-regulation.