From NPR.Org
Think about something it took you a really long time to learn, like
how to parallel park. At first, parallel parking was difficult and you
had to devote a lot of mental energy to it. But after you grew
comfortable with parallel parking, it became much easier — almost
habitual, you could say.
Parallel parking, gambling,
exercising, brushing your teeth and every other habit-forming activity
all follow the same behavioral and neurological patterns, says New York Times business writer Charles Duhigg. His new book The Power of Habit
explores the science behind why we do what we do — and how companies
are now working to use our habit formations to sell and market products
to us.
How Habits Form
It turns out
that every habit starts with a psychological pattern called a "habit
loop," which is a three-part process. First, there's a cue, or trigger,
that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and let a behavior
unfold.
"Then there's the routine, which is the behavior itself," Duhigg tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "That's what we think about when we think about habits."
The third step, he says, is the reward: something that your brain likes that helps it remember the "habit loop" in the future.
Neuroscientists
have traced our habit-making behaviors to a part of the brain called
the basal ganglia, which also plays a key role in the development of
emotions, memories and pattern recognition. Decisions, meanwhile, are
made in a different part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex. But
as soon as a behavior becomes automatic, the decision-making part of
your brain goes into a sleep mode of sorts.
"In fact, the brain
starts working less and less," says Duhigg. "The brain can almost
completely shut down. ... And this is a real advantage, because it means
you have all of this mental activity you can devote to something else."
That's
why it's easy — while driving or parallel parking, let's say — to
completely focus on something else: like the radio, or a conversation
you're having.
"You can do these complex behaviors without
being mentally aware of it at all," he says. "And that's because of the
capacity of our basal ganglia: to take a behavior and turn it into an
automatic routine."
Studies have shown that people will perform
automated behaviors — like pulling out of a driveway or brushing teeth —
the same way every single time, if they're in the same environment. But
if they take a vacation, it's likely that the behavior will change.
"You'll
put your shoes on in a different order without paying any attention to
it," he says, "because once the cues change, patterns are broken up."
That's one of the reasons why taking a vacation is so relaxing: It helps break certain habits.
"It's
also a great reason why changing a habit on a vacation is one of the
proven most-successful ways to do it," he says. "If you want to quit
smoking, you should stop smoking while you're on a vacation — because
all your old cues and all your old rewards aren't there anymore. So you
have this ability to form a new pattern and hopefully be able to carry
it over into your life."
Marketing Habits
It's not just individual
habits that become automated. Duhigg says there are studies that show
organizational habits form among workers working for the same company.
And companies themselves exploit habit cues and rewards to try to sway
customers, particularly if customers themselves can't articulate what
pleasurable experience they derive from a habit.
"Companies are
very, very good — better than consumers themselves — at knowing what
consumers are actually craving," says Duhigg.
As an example, he
points to Febreeze, a Proctor & Gamble fabric odor eliminator that
initially failed when it got to the market.
"They thought that
consumers would use it because they were craving getting rid of bad
scents," he says. "And it was a total flop. People who had 12 cats and
their homes smelled terrible? They wouldn't use Febreeze."
That's when Proctor & Gamble reformulated Febreeze to include different scents.
"As
soon as they did that, people started using it at the end of their
cleaning habits to make things smell as nice as they looked," he says.
"And what they figured out is that people crave a nice smell when
everything looks pretty. Now, no consumer would have said that. ... But
companies can figure this out, and that's how they can make products
work."
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