Challenging assumptions about habit: A response to Hagger (2019)

Abstract

Widely cited literature assumes habits to be: (1) specific and rigid behavioral responses; (2) in response to location-and timing-stable, external contexts, (3) goal-independent, and (4) enacted without conscious awareness. Hagger (2019) recently reviewed this literature as it applies to the physical activity domain. The purpose of this article is to challenge these assumptions in favor of a habit conceptualization that is more applicable to physical activity: (1) behavioral instigation and/or execution can be habitual, allowing for variable responses to cues; (2) stable contexts can be internal or functional (cued by a preceding action) but may vary in timing and physical location; (3) a shift from external to internal goal dependence may characterize habit development; and (4) types of automaticity other than purely nonconscious enactment may characterize habitual action. I present theory and research that supports these alternative characterizations and discuss their ramifications for physical activity adoption and maintenance via habit.

Redefining habits and linking habits with other implicit processes

“…I contend that habits are likely to coincide with knowledge structures stored in associative memory, developed in conjunction with the habitual behavior, and include action representations, implicit evaluations of the behavior, and the sets of cues and contingencies that activate both the behavior and the sets of associated knowledge structures. This view seems to correspond with some of the perspectives on habit offered by other theorists (Aarts & Dijksterhuis, 2000;Klöckner & Matthies, 2012), including those of Gardner et al (2019) and Phillips (2019). As an example, I have outlined potential links between different non-conscious or automatic constructs, including action representations that often reflect habits, implicit beliefs, and cues or environmental factors (see Figure 1).…”

“…Similarly, the distinction between habitual instigation or initiation and habitual execution is also helpful for describing the processes controlling performance of complex behaviors, and chimes well with evidence and anecdotal experience (Gardner et al, 2016;Gardner et al, 2019;Phillips, 2019;. Complex behaviors like physical activity not only require strategic coordination of sets of sub-actions to perform, but also considerable planning, forethought, and decision making to instigate in the first place.…”

“…A key issue emerging from contemporary research on habits in the physical activity domain, which was also lucidly highlighted in the commentaries (Gardner et al, 2019;Phillips, 2019), is the extent to which, and the ways in which, habitual behaviors are controlled by automatic, non-conscious processes. Because definitions of habits place considerable emphasis on the non-conscious, automatic characteristic, it often engenders the false belief that habitual behaviors, insofar as they are global actions observed at the 'macro' level, are exclusively controlled by such processes.…”

“…The notion, advocated by Gardner et al (2016; and Phillips (2019), that complex behaviors are a blend of behaviors that are consciously enacted and automatic processes has utility in advancing theoretical understanding on habits, and is consistent with research evidence (Botvinick & Plaut, 2006;Clegg, DiGirolamo, & Keele, 1998;Graybiel, 2008;Savalia, Shukla, & Bapi, 2016). For example, research has shown that, over time, experience of executing a behavior in the presence of relevant contextual features or cues, which could be external or internal to the individual, as Phillips (2019) so eloquently argues, will lead to a gradual transition from conscious to automatic control (Lally, van Jaarsveld, Potts, & Wardle, 2010).…”

A Qualitative Investigation into the Representations of Habit by Lay People

“…For example, participants discussed discrete behaviours (e.g., biting nails) but similarly discussed clustered, repetitive, patterns of behaviour that are synonymous with routines (e.g., having a coffee, brushing teeth, showering, all in the morning) The clustered patterns of behaviours are likely governed by both automatic and reflective processes, particularly given they are, by definition, multi-step and complex behaviours (Mullan & Novoradovskaya, 2018). For example, an individual might habitually start the shower after they have brushed their teeth, but likely need to have some conscious reflection to ensure the water is at the right temperature and they wash their body and hair thoroughly (Gardner, Phillips, & Judah, 2016;Phillips, 2019). Yet, contrary to the idea of habits being multi-step, when participants were asked to identify what, if anything, differentiated habits from routines, they described routines as multi-step and complex patterns of behaviours and habits as typically simple and discrete behaviours.…”