Study Sunday: Habits Drive Decision-Making

🤔 The Question

Do you really know why you do what you do? A new study finds that we consistently underestimate the degree to which our actions are driven by habit. 

⚡️ The Findings  

In two experiments, people mainly ascribed their actions and decisions to their feelings and intentional choices. For example, they said they were drinking coffee because they were tired, or that they refused to help the researchers when asked because they were in a bad mood.

But analyses revealed that habit strength was actually a much stronger driver of behavior, and yet it was consistently unacknowledged as the true cause. 

🧪 The Study

Two experiments were conducted: 

1) For one week, 112 participants were pinged every two hours and asked questions about their coffee consumption. 

2) 809 participants were trained to habitually press a button. Then they had to press that button or a different one to indicate whether they were willing to give up their time to help the researchers. 

⭐️ The Significance

We tend to explain our behavior as a product of our own deliberate choices. But the reality is that most of our actions and decisions happen on autopilot and we often just don’t realize. 

This false attribution leads to the use of ineffective strategies when we’re trying to change our behavior. We might over rely on willpower-based strategies when habit-based strategies would be more effective. 

💎 The Takeaway 

When you’re trying to understand your actions, pay extra attention to any habitual forces at play. If you can recognize the true nature of your behavior, you’ll be better equipped to change it. 

For example, instead of saying… 

“I went on TikTok because I was bored. I’ll use more willpower next time.” 

You might realize… 

“I have a habit of using TikTok before bed. I’ll disconnect my phone from the internet after 11pm.” 

Mazar, Asaf, and Wendy Wood. “Illusory Feelings, Elusive Habits: People Overlook Habits in Explanations of Behavior.” Psychological Science, Mar. 2022, doi:10.1177/09567976211045345.