We like to think we have a
tremendous amount of control over our own behavior. Yet, our habits have a huge influence on the
way we act. In general, we like to do
what we did last time in the same context.
For example, I recently went to a conference for internet
marketers. The members of this group,
who pride themselves on being at the leading edge of a digital revolution, are
still strongly bound by habits. When I
gave my talk at this conference soon after re-entering the auditorium from
lunch, almost everyone was sitting in the same seat as they had been before
they left for lunch. They mindlessly
returned to the same seats.
Two interesting studies in a paper
in the November, 2011 issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin by
David Neal, Wendy Wood, Megju Wu, and David Kurlander demonstrate both the
power of habits and a way to disrupt those habits.
In the first study, one group of
participants was recruited before going to watch a movie at a theater. They were told they were going to watch some
movie trailers to give their opinions about them. Participants were given water and popcorn and
they watched 15 minutes of trailers.
After leaving the theater, the participants rated how much they liked
the popcorn and how frequently they eat popcorn when going to the movies.
The interesting manipulation in
this study was that half of the participants got fresh popcorn that had just
been popped, while the other half got stale popcorn that had been popped a week
before the study. After the study, those
who got the fresh popcorn rated it as tastier than those who got the stale
popcorn.
People who don’t have the habit to
eat popcorn at the movies ate far more of it when it was fresh than when it was
stale. However, those who routinely eat
popcorn at the movies at most of the popcorn regardless of whether it was fresh
or stale. That is, having the habit to eat popcorn led people to eat, even when
they were eating lousy pocorn.
The habit is specific,
though. Another group of participants
was recruited to watch and rate music videos in a meeting room. That group was also given popcorn that was
either fresh or stale. Everyone in this
context ate less if they got stale popcorn than if they got fresh popcorn, even
if they have the habit to eat popcorn at the movies.
The last study in this paper
demonstrated that you can interfere with people’s habits. Habits are often specific in the actions that
are used to carry them out. Your habit
in the car to press the accelerator and the brake is related to the movement of
your leg.
With popcorn, people often have
the habit to eat with one hand or the other.
Most right-handers eat their popcorn with their right hand, for
example. In another study, people were
recruited at a theater to watch movie trailers.
They were given a box of popcorn that had a handle they had to slide
over one hand. They were either told to
slide it over their dominant hand or over their nondominant hand. So, if you’re right-handed and you normally
eat popcorn with your right hand, then if you are forced to hold the popcorn
box with your right hand, your habitual way of eating is disrupted.
As with the previous study, people
who had the habit to eat popcorn at the movies, and who could eat mindlessly
with their dominant hands ate a lot of popcorn regardless of whether it was
fresh or stale. But, those who had to
eat with their non-dominant hand ate less popcorn when they got stale popcorn
than when they got fresh popcorn.
There are a few key things to take
away from this study.
First, your habits are incredibly
powerful. When you are in an environment
that supports a habit, you end up carrying out that habit without
thinking. If you are interested in habit
change, then, you need to become aware of your environment to help stop
yourself from behaving mindlessly.
Second, habits are specific to the
actions you take. An easy way to help
yourself change habits is to find a way to block the actions you normally
perform. Just switching hands was enough
to get people who eat popcorn regularly to eat less of the stale popcorn.
