Don’t make a habit out of it: Impaired learning conditions can make goal-directed behavior seem habitual.

Buabang, Eike Kofi; Boddez, Yannick; Houwer, Jan De; Moors, Agnes

doi:10.1037/mot0000218

Cited by 15 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…These findings are in line with other recent theoretical and empirical work (Buabang et al, 2021a(Buabang et al, , 2021bDe Houwer et al, 2018;Hogarth, 2020Hogarth, , 2022Hommel & Wiers, 2017;…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

The Role of Goal-Directed and Habitual Processes in Food Consumption Under Stress After Outcome Devaluation with Taste Aversion

Buabang

Boddez²,

Wolf³

et al. 2022

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People are more likely to engage in various suboptimal behaviors such as overeating, addictive behaviors, and short-sighted financial decision making when they are under stress. Traditional dual-process models propose that stress can impair the ability to engage in goal- directed behavior so that people have to rely on habitual behavior. Support for this idea comes from a study by Schwabe and Wolf (2010), in which stressed participants continued to perform a learned instrumental behavior leading to a liquid after the liquid was devalued with a satiation procedure. Based on these findings, suboptimal behavior under stress is often seen as habitual. In the current study, we conducted a conceptual replication of the study by Schwabe and Wolf (2010). Instead of using a satiation procedure to achieve the outcome devaluation, we devalued outcomes through taste aversion. We did not replicate the pattern of findings by Schwabe and Wolf (2010). Our results indicate instead that stressed participants were sensitive to outcome values when the outcomes became truly aversive and hence that their behavior was goal-directed. This suggests either that (a) habitual processes are subject to boundary conditions or (b) the processes responsible for the findings of Schwabe and Wolf (2010) were never habitual to begin with. This may have far-reaching implications for explaining suboptimal behavior under stress in general.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

The Role of Goal-Directed and Habitual Processes in Food Consumption Under Stress After Outcome Devaluation with Taste Aversion

Buabang

Boddez²,

Wolf³

et al. 2022

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…Despite the popularity of stimulus-driven explanations for suboptimal behavior such as action slips, recent theoretical and empirical work has challenged the explanatory power of stimulus-driven processes (Buabang et al, 2021;De Houwer et al, 2018;Hogarth, 2020;Hommel & Wiers, 2017;Kruglanski & Szumowska, 2020;Moors et al, 2017). Moors et al (2017) proposed an alternative dual process model with a parallel-competitive architecture in which stimulus-driven and goal-directed processes can both be automatic.…”

Section: A Goal-directed Account Of Action Slips: the Reliance On Old Contingenciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Goal-Directed Account of Action Slips: The Reliance on Old Contingencies

Buabang

Koester²,

Boddez³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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People often keep engaging in behaviors that used to be successful in the past but which are knowingly no longer effective in the current situation, so called action slips. Such action slips are often explained with stimulus-driven processes in which behavior is caused by a stimulus-response association and without information about the outcome of the behavior. This process is contrasted with a goal-directed process in which behavior is selected because it is expected to lead to a desired outcome. Failing to act in line with changes in the outcome, is taken as evidence for stimulus-driven processes. Stimulus-driven processes are assumed to get installed after overtraining and to be deployed under poor operating conditions. In line with this, previous research has found that action slips are more likely to occur after extensive training and when under time pressure. We propose an alternative goal-directed explanation according to which action slips are not caused by a stimulus-driven process, but rather by a goal-directed process that relies on old, no longer accurate, outcome information. In the current study, participants learned four stimulus-response-outcome contingencies during a single (i.e., moderate training) or a four-day training schedule (i.e., extensive training). Afterwards two contingencies were reversed. Results show that after extensive training and when under time pressure, participants not only committed more action slips but also reported more old response-outcome contingencies in line with these action slips. This is consistent with the goal-directed explanation that action slips result from a reliance on old, no longer accurate outcome information.

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“… 42 However, this definition identifies habits on the failure to satisfy criteria for goal-directed action (negative definition), including the possibility that unforeseen factors compromise integration of changes in action-outcome conditioning. 45 , 46 Besides, traditionally used habit measures can only be applied once in a given individual and are not suited to detect individual differences, both of which are critical features, since habits develop slowly and recruitment of habitual strategies vary significantly between individuals. To address these limitations, we set out to develop a paradigm that “positively” identifies habits, accounts for individual differences, and may be repeated within a subject to track gradual habit development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Striatal dopamine signals are region specific and temporally stable across action-sequence habit formation

et al. 2022

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Don’t make a habit out of it: Impaired learning conditions can make goal-directed behavior seem habitual.

Cited by 15 publications

References 32 publications

The Role of Goal-Directed and Habitual Processes in Food Consumption Under Stress After Outcome Devaluation with Taste Aversion

The Role of Goal-Directed and Habitual Processes in Food Consumption Under Stress After Outcome Devaluation with Taste Aversion

A Goal-Directed Account of Action Slips: The Reliance on Old Contingencies

Striatal dopamine signals are region specific and temporally stable across action-sequence habit formation

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