Bas Verplanken

Motivated decision making: effects of activation and self-centrality of values on choices and behavior.

Six studies examined the value-behavior relation and focused on motivational properties of values, the self, and value activation. Priming environmental values enhanced attention to and the weight of information related to those values, which resulted in environmentally friendly consumer choices. This only occurred if these values were central to the self-concept. Value-congruent choices were also found in response to countervalue behavior in an unrelated context. Donating behavior congruent with central altruistic values was found as a result of enhanced self-focus, thus demonstrating the importance of the self in the value-behavior relation. The external validity of the value-centrality measure and its distinction from attitudes were demonstrated in the prediction of voting. Values were thus found to give meaning to, energize, and regulate value-congruent behavior, but only if values were cognitively activated and central to the self.

Interventions to Break and Create Consumer Habits

Interventions to change everyday behaviors often attempt to change peoples beliefs and intentions. As the authors explain, these interventions are unlikely to be an effective means to change behaviors that people have repeated into habits. Successful habit change interventions involve disrupting the environmental factors that automatically cue habit performance. The authors propose two potential habit change interventions. “Downstream-plus” interventions provide informational input at points when habits are vulnerable to change, such as when people are undergoing naturally occurring changes in performance environments for many everyday actions (e.g., moving households, changing jobs). “Upstream” interventions occur before habit performance and disrupt old environmental cues and establish new ones. Policy interventions can be oriented not only to the change of established habits but also to the acquisition and maintenance of new behaviors through the formation of new habits.

Habit, information acquisition, and the process of making travel mode choices

Three studies examined the role of habit on information acquisition concerning travel mode choices. On the basis of Triandis’ (1980) model of attitude‐behaviour relations it was expected that habit strength attenuates the elaborateness of choice processes. The studies focused on different phases in the choice process, namely the appreciation of situational cues and appreciation of choice option information. In line with expectations, it was found that, compared to weak habit participants, those who had a strong habit towards choosing a particular travel mode acquired less information and gave evidence of less elaborate choice strategies. It was attempted to break effects of habit by manipulating either accountability demands or level of attention. Although accountability demands raised the level of information acquisition, no interactions with habit were found. Enhanced attention to the choice process initially did override habit effects in a series of choice trials. However, in spite of this manipulation, chronic habit effects emerged during later trials. The results demonstrate the profound effects that habit may have on the appreciation of information about choice situations and choice options. #1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Habit, Attitude, and Planned Behaviour: Is Habit an Empty Construct or an Interesting Case of Goal-directed Automaticity?

Habit is often treated as a construct of marginal interest in the literature on attitude–behaviour relations. We argue that this is undeserved, particularly given the current interest in principles of automaticity in social psychology. Basic features of habits, such as goal-directed automaticity, their dependency on situational constancy, and functionality, as well as the measurement of habit strength, are discussed. Research is reviewed that contrasted habit with deliberate action, as approached from the theory of planned behaviour, spontaneous vs. deliberate attitude–behaviour processes, implementation intention theory, and decision-making models. Habits thus appear as boundary conditions of the validity of models of planned behaviour and rational decision-making. A habit seems to be accompanied by an enduring cognitive orientation, which we refer to as “habitual mind-set”, that makes an individual less attentive to new information and courses of action, and thus contributes to the maintenance of habitu...

Good intentions, bad habits, and effects of forming implementation intentions on healthy eating

A field experiment demonstrated that forming implementation intentions was effective in changing complex everyday behavior, in this case establishing a healthier diet. Implementation intentions concerned a specific plan for when and howto act. The effect of implementation intentions was additive to the prediction of healthy eating by behavioral intentions to eat healthily. Implementation intentions were pitted against individual differences in counterintentional (unhealthy) habits. The effects of implementation intentions and counterintentional habits were independent, suggesting that implementation intentions did not break the negative influence of unhealthy habits, and yet managed to make those with unhealthy habits eat healthier in habit-unrelated respects. Copyright

Beyond frequency: Habit as mental construct

Progress in habit theory can be made by distinguishing habit from frequency of occurrence, and using independent measures for these constructs. This proposition was investigated in three studies using a longitudinal, cross-sectional and experimental design on eating, mental habits and word processing, respectively. In Study 1, snacking habit and past snacking frequency independently predicted later snacking behaviour, while controlling for the theory of planned behaviour variables. Habit fully mediated the effect of past on later behaviour. In Study 2, habitual negative self-thinking and past frequency of negative self-thoughts independently predicted self-esteem and the presence of depressive and anxiety symptoms. In Study 3, habit varied as a function of experimentally manipulated task complexity, while behavioural frequency was held constant. Taken together, while repetition is necessary for habits to develop, these studies demonstrate that habit should not be equated with frequency of occurrence, but rather should be considered as a mental construct involving features of automaticity, such as lack of awareness, difficulty to control and mental efficiency.

Individual differences in impulse buying tendency: feeling and no thinking

A 20‐item scale to measure general impulse buying tendency was developed and validated in two studies. The scale includes cognitive aspects (e.g. lack of planning and deliberation) and affective aspects (e.g. feelings of pleasure, excitement, compulsion, lack of control, regret). The scale correlated significantly with reported purchase frequencies of typical impulse products and number of recent impulse purchases. Impulse buying tendency was found to be related to personality‐based individual difference measures, including the Big Five. Cognitive and affective facets of impulse buying tendency were both related to extraversion. The cognitive facet was inversely related to conscientiousness, personal need for structure, and need to evaluate. The affective facet was related to lack of autonomy and action orientation. The results suggested that impulse buying tendency has a strong basis in personality. Copyright

Habit and information use in travel mode choices

This study focuses on the role of habit in the process of information use underlying daily travel mode choices. Based on the ‘policy capturing’ paradigm, eighty-two students performed a multiattribute travel mode judgment task, in which they could use information about travel circumstances in order to make a number of judgments. Measures of information use were obtained by performing multiple regression analyses for each subject. It was found that habit reduced the elaborateness of information use in judgments of travel mode use. This effect was independent of effects of manipulated accountability demands.

The automatic component of habit in health behavior: habit as cue-contingent automaticity.

OBJECTIVE Habit might be usefully characterized as a form of automaticity that involves the association of a cue and a response. Three studies examined habitual automaticity in regard to different aspects of the cue-response relationship characteristic of unhealthy and healthy habits. DESIGN, MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES, AND RESULTS In each study, habitual automaticity was assessed by the Self-Report Habit Index (SRHI). In Study 1 SRHI scores correlated with attentional bias to smoking cues in a Stroop task. Study 2 examined the ability of a habit cue to elicit an unwanted habit response. In a prospective field study, habitual automaticity in relation to smoking when drinking alcohol in a licensed public house (pub) predicted the likelihood of cigarette-related action slips 2 months later after smoking in pubs had become illegal. In Study 3 experimental group participants formed an implementation intention to floss in response to a specified situational cue. Habitual automaticity of dental flossing was rapidly enhanced compared to controls. CONCLUSION The studies provided three different demonstrations of the importance of cues in the automatic operation of habits. Habitual automaticity assessed by the SRHI captured aspects of a habit that go beyond mere frequency or consistency of the behavior.

Intention to consume seafood—the importance of habit

The role of habit strength and past behaviour were studied in order to gain a better understanding of seafood consumption behaviour. A sample of Norwegian adults (N=1579) responded to a self-administered questionnaire about seafood consumption habits, past frequency of seafood consumption, and attitude towards and intention to eat seafood. Structural equation modelling revealed that past behaviour and habit, rather than attitudes, were found to explain differences in intention, indicating that forming intention does not necessarily have to be reasoned. The results also indicated that when a strong habit is present, the expression of an intention might be guided by the salience of past behaviour rather than by attitudes. The findings of this study might thus have consequences for dietary interventions.