How habits affect behaviour

The Oxford dictionary describes a habit as: 'a thing that you do often and almost without thinking, especially something that is hard to stop doing'.

We can think of many behaviours that then go on to become habits. This is due to the repetitive nature of the action in completing this behaviour.

According to research, habits account for about 40% of our behaviours on any given day. In the main, habits are automatic, unconscious responses to a situation or a cue in our lives. Some unhealthy examples of this might be:

• 'It's a Friday, let's have a takeaway'
• 'I'm at the beach so let's have an ice cream'
• 'I have friends round so let's open that bottle of wine'
• 'I need a break from work so I will nip out for a cigarette'

These cues that we experience tip our decisional balance one way. This is due to the way in which we process information that surrounds us.

It's interpreted in our brains by our dual cognitive processing systems. One is our automatic system which is fast thinking, intuitive and effortless. The other is our reflective system which is slow thinking, deliberate and analytic.

Rewiring what our responses are to situational and environmental cues can be very challenging. Take for example some of the protective habits we have formed while growing up:

• Looking both ways when crossing the road
• Putting our seatbelt on when getting into a car
• Brushing our teeth twice daily

More recently we changed our habits around using hand sanitiser and face coverings during Covid-19.

You form habits through a gradual shift in cognitive control from intentional to automatic processes. When you perform a behaviour many times, you begin to use a sort of heuristic decision-making strategy. This is a cognitive shortcut whereby you don't need to scrutinise all the consequences of enacting a certain behaviour.

As you repeat a behaviour in the same context the control of the behaviour shifts. It moves from being internally guided (eg beliefs, attitude, and intention) to situational or contextual cues acting as triggers.

Find out more about habits from UCL (University College London), which is the location for the Centre for Behaviour Change.