Reflections on Past Behavior: A Self‐Report Index of Habit Strength1

We argue that habit is a psychological construct, rather than simply past behavioral frequency. In 4 studies, a 12‐item index of habit strength (the Self‐Report Habit Index, SRHI) was developed on the basis of features of habit; that is, a history of repetition, automaticity (lack of control and awareness, efficiency), and expressing identity. High internal and test‐retest reliabilities were found. The SRHI correlated strongly with past behavioral frequency and the response frequency measure of habit (Verplanken, Aarts, van Knippenberg, & van Knippenberg, 1994). The index discriminated between behaviors varying in frequency, and also between daily vs. weekly habits. The SRHI may be useful as a dependent variable, or to determine or monitor habit strength without measuring behavioral frequency.     

习惯研究的现状与展望

习惯是一种由某特定线索引发并指向某特定目标(包括外显目标与内隐目标)的自动化反应。它具有过去有行为的重复、环境线索的稳定与自动化的反应等特征。关于习惯的测量方式主要采取自我报告法（如自我报告过去行为频率、自我报告习惯频率、自我报告习惯索引等）和反应频率测量法。对习惯的形成的理论解释主要有环境促进、态度促进、目标促进等几种观点。未来研究应继续深入探讨习惯的本质、整合形成机制的相关理论及开发更可靠方便的测量工具。     

Purchase and Consumption Habits: Not Necessarily What You Intend

Purchase and consumption behaviors in daily life often are repetitive and performed in customary places, leading consumers to develop habits. When habits have formed, environmental cues can activate the practiced responses in the absence of conscious decision making. This research tested these ideas using a longitudinal design. We predicted that regardless of their explicit intentions, consumers would repeat habits to purchase fast food, watch TV news, and take the bus. The results yielded the anticipated pattern in which participants repeated habitual behaviors even if they reported intentions to do otherwise. Intentions only guided behavior in the absence of strong habits. This study ruled out a number of artifactual accounts for these findings including that they arise from the level of abstraction at which intentions are identified, the certainty with which participants held intentions, a restriction of range in the measures, and the strategy participants used to estimate frequency of past performance.     

Repeated Behavior and Environmental Psychology: The Role of Personal Involvement and Habit Formation in Explaining Water Consumption1

Extending existing theory in social and environmental psychology, we develop a model to study important predictors of water consumption behavior. Overall results provide support for the predictive ability of stimuli (e.g., environmental awareness), reasoned processes (e.g., personal involvement), unreasoned processes (e.g., habits), and situational factors (e.g., income) on water consumption behavior. Findings indicate that households with lower water usage display greater awareness of water conservation issues, are more highly involved in the decision to use water, and tend to form habits associated with lower usage levels. Furthermore, the results are consistent with past research that attitudes toward water usage appear to be poor predictors of water consumption behavior. After controlling for situational factors (e.g., household size), the findings substantiate the role of personal involvement and habit formation in explaining water consumption, lending further support to the adaptation and development of repeated behavior models in environmental psychology.     

Consequences of Regret Aversion 2: Additional Evidence for Effects of Feedback on Decision Making

We discuss the effects of anticipated and experienced regret on decision making under uncertainty. In previous research, using the standard, context-free, gamble paradigm, we found that decision makers anticipate the regret they can experience as a result of post-decisional feedback on forgone outcomes (Zeelenberg, Beattie, van der Pligt, & de Vries, 1996). In the present research we move away from the gamble paradigm, on to richer contexts. In Experiments 1 and 2, involving investment decision making and decision making in the ultimatum game, it is shown that the expectation of feedback on forgone outcomes influences decision making and can promote more risk seeking behavior. Experiment 3 focused on effects of retrospective regret and shows that actual feedback on foregone outcomes influences the experience of regret and subsequent decision making. The results of these studies support our earlier work on regret aversion.     

When Do Employees Identify? An Analysis of Cross‐Sectional and Longitudinal Predictors of Training Group and Organizational Identification1

Organizational research has shown the impact of organizational identification on employees' attitudes and behavior, and its relevance for economic success ( Haslam, 2004 ). Furthermore, the necessity to differentiate levels of identification within organizations has been emphasized ( van Knippenberg & van Schie, 2000 ). Little is known, however, about predictors of different identification levels within organizations and their influence on the development of identification. In a longitudinal study with training groups of flight attendants, we investigated how foci of identification (training group, organization) were differentially predicted by cross‐sectional and longitudinal variables. Interpersonal attraction related to training group identification, whereas professional motivation related to organizational identification. Furthermore, expected job circumstances and professional motivation were longitudinal predictors for training group identification and organizational identification, respectively.     

The process of forming a mobile media habit: results of a longitudinal study in a real-world setting

ABSTRACT

Media habits are central constructs in audience research. Yet, little is known about the formation of (media) habits. Based on theoretical elaboration and the results of a longitudinal study on the formation of a mobile media application habit—specifically the smartphone application of the Union of European Football Associations for the European soccer championship 2016—in a real-world setting, this article develops a comprehensive framework of media habit formation. The framework focuses on the core process of habit formation: Habits form with (regular) repetition of a behavior in a specific context that is perceived as rewarding. Yet, the findings of the study show that regularity in behavior performance and stable external circumstances are less crucial for the formation of a mobile media habit. Instead, gateway behaviors are proposed as relevant context features for the formation of mobile media habits.     

Scientific Controversies and the Ethics of Arguing and Belief in the Face of Rational Disagreement

Our main aim is to discuss the topic of scientific controversies in the context of a recent issue that has been the centre of attention of many epistemologists though not of argumentation theorists or philosophers of science, namely the ethics of belief in face of rational disagreement. We think that the consideration of scientific examples may be of help in the epistemological debate on rational disagreement, making clear some of the deficiencies of the discussion as it has been produced until now. Another central claim of our paper is that the common view according to which beliefs (and changes of beliefs) may exhibit and commonly exhibit a deontic status can be clarified in the light of Brandom’s approach to normative pragmatics and the pragmatic theories of argumentation that also have a normative character (here our example is van Eemeren’s pragma-dialectics). Our article highlights the similarities between both projects, similarities that to our knowledge were not noticed before. Finally, an important point of the article is that we need to take contextual elements into account in order to develop an adequate theory of disagreement.     

Effectiveness of the GOFER course in decision making for high school students

The paper describes and evaluates the GOFER course in decision making for high school students (Mann, Harmoni and Power, 1988). The course was based on principles from the conflict theory of decision making (Janis and Mann, 1977) and was designed to provide adolescents with an understanding of factors that produce good and poor decision making as well as knowledge and practice of sound decision skills. Two evaluation studies were conducted to examine effectiveness of the course. Study 1 was conducted with young adolescents (12 year olds). It found a significant difference between students trained in the course and a control group on measures of self-esteem as a decision maker, self reported decision habits and knowledge of decision strategy. Study 2 was conducted with mid-adolescents (15 year olds). It, too, found a significant difference between students who took the course and a control group on measures of self esteem as a decision maker and self-reported decision habits. It is concluded that while the evaluation study fell short of an ideal test, the GOFER course met the criteria of improving student knowledge, raising confidence in decision making and changing self reported decision habits.     

Pollard on Habits of Action

Bill Pollard has recently developed an account of habits of action, endeavoring to rehabilitate the traditional notion of habit in a way that can be used to address current philosophical concerns. I argue that Pollard’s account has important shortcomings. The account is intended to apply indiscriminately to both habitual and skilled acts, but this overlooks crucial distinctions. Moreover, Pollard’s account fails to do justice to the various ways in which the idea of habit figures in the explanation and assessment of action. These shortcomings are a consequence of certain assumptions Pollard shares with the accounts of mind and action he sets to criticize. As long as these assumptions are left intact, the potential of dispositional notions such as habit and skill to contribute to contemporary debates will not be realized.     

Habits as knowledge structures: automaticity in goal-directed behavior

This study tested the idea of habits as a form of goal-directed automatic behavior. Expanding on the idea that habits are mentally represented as associations between goals and actions, it was proposed that goals are capable of activating the habitual action. More specific, when habits are established (e.g., frequent cycling to the university), the very activation of the goal to act (e.g., having to attend lectures at the university) automatically evokes the habitual response (e.g., bicycle). Indeed, it was tested and confirmed that, when behavior is habitual, behavioral responses are activated automatically. In addition, the results of 3 experiments indicated that (a) the automaticity in habits is conditional on the presence of an active goal (cf. goal-dependent automaticity; J. A. Bargh, 1989), supporting the idea that habits are mentally represented as goal-action links, and (b) the formation of implementation intentions (i.e., the creation of a strong mental link between a goal and action) may simulate goal-directed automaticity in habits.     

Decision Support System and Multi‐Criteria Decision Aid: A State of the Art and Perspectives

The aim of this paper is to highlight the role of the Decision Support System within the field of multi‐criteria decision aid (MCDA). The MCDA tools have been incorporated into systems to create Multi‐Criteria Decision Support Systems (MCDSSs). In our literature review, we noticed that more than 100 papers have been written over a 20‐year period in which MCDSS was used as a decision‐making tool. The present paper describes some real applications of MCDSS in different fields, harmoniously combined with decision‐making methods such as analytic hierarchy process, Utility Additive, and Goal Programming. The present study proposes an integrative MCDSS evaluation through guidance on the tools most useful for a specific user with a particular decision problem. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nonrational processes in ethical decision making

Most current ethical decision-making models provide a logical and reasoned process for making ethical judgments, but these models are empirically unproven and rely upon assumptions of rational, conscious, and quasilegal reasoning. Such models predominate despite the fact that many nonrational factors influence ethical thought and behavior, including context, perceptions, relationships, emotions, and heuristics. For example, a large body of behavioral research has demonstrated the importance of automatic intuitive and affective processes in decision making and judgment. These processes profoundly affect human behavior and lead to systematic biases and departures from normative theories of rationality. Their influence represents an important but largely unrecognized component of ethical decision making. We selectively review this work; provide various illustrations; and make recommendations for scientists, trainers, and practitioners to aid them in integrating the understanding of nonrational processes with ethical decision making.     

Opposite effects of feedback contingency on the process of risky decisions-making

The main aim of this study was to look into the effect of feedback contingency on decision making in complex risky situations, using a driving context. Participants had to decide braking or not in a set of risky traffic situations. After the response, a negative non-contingent or contingent feedback was used. The results highlight the importance of feedback contingency upon safer decision making in risky contexts, as they showed how a contingent feedback led to faster and safer responses than a control group without any feedback; whereas a non-contingent one gives rise to slower responses and, more importantly, an enhanced risk-taking behavior that could be the cause of undesirable effects on road safety. The feedback effect was even more evident in the appearance of an opposite response bias as a function of contingency and enhanced by learning. These results accord with the theoretical accounts based upon the feedback influence on the threshold level of decision making. Moreover, the effects of feedback may be explained by new proposals focusing on the importance of attentional factors as well as of the mental models people build to react in complex risky scenarios, as a product of feedback and learning. Finally, this research may increase our understanding of the role of feedback in the process of learning safer behavior in complex risky situations.     

家庭社会经济地位对幼儿良好行为习惯的影响:父母教养方式与幼儿心理素质的中介作用

幼儿时期是培养个体良好行为习惯的重要关键期。以814名幼儿及其家长为研究对象,探讨家庭社会经济地位与幼儿良好行为习惯的关系,以及父母教养方式和幼儿心理素质的中介作用。结果表明：（1）家庭社会经济地位与幼儿良好行为习惯显著正相关;（2）父母教养方式与幼儿心理素质在家庭社会经济地位和良好行为习惯间起连续中介作用,且权威型教养方式与心理素质的链式中介作用显著高于专制型教养方式与心理素质的链式中介作用。因此,要促进幼儿养成良好行为习惯,应注重父母教养方式的选择与幼儿心理素质的培养。     

家庭社会经济地位对幼儿良好行为习惯的影响:父母教养方式与幼儿心理素质的中介作用

幼儿时期是培养个体良好行为习惯的重要关键期。以814名幼儿及其家长为研究对象,探讨家庭社会经济地位与幼儿良好行为习惯的关系,以及父母教养方式和幼儿心理素质的中介作用。结果表明：（1）家庭社会经济地位与幼儿良好行为习惯显著正相关;（2）父母教养方式与幼儿心理素质在家庭社会经济地位和良好行为习惯间起连续中介作用,且权威型教养方式与心理素质的链式中介作用显著高于专制型教养方式与心理素质的链式中介作用。因此,要促进幼儿养成良好行为习惯,应注重父母教养方式的选择与幼儿心理素质的培养。     

The habitual consumer

Consumers sometimes act like creatures of habit, automatically repeating past behavior with little regard to current goals and valued outcomes. To explain this phenomenon, we show that habits are a specific form of automaticity in which responses are directly cued by the contexts (e.g., locations, preceding actions) that consistently covaried with past performance. Habits are prepotent responses that are quick to activate in memory over alternatives and that have a slow-to-modify memory trace. In daily life, the tendency to act on habits is compounded by everyday demands, including time pressures, distraction, and self-control depletion. However, habits are not immune to deliberative processes. Habits are learned largely as people pursue goals in daily life, and habits are broken through the strategic deployment of effortful self-control. Also, habits influence the post hoc inferences that people make about their behavior.     

Habit as resistance: Bergson's philosophy of second nature

Henri Bergson is one of the few philosophers who both explicitly and extensively discusses the phenomenon of habit. In view of his engagement with habit, does Bergson develop a philosophically robust account of the phenomenon? Most commentary on his account of habit refers to his early work, Matter and Memory. In this paper, I begin by arguing that Bergson's treatment of habit in Matter and Memory is problematic because it does not adequately differentiate between habit and material nature. Despite its neglect in secondary literature, Bergson also discusses habit in the first part of his final book, The Two Sources of Morality and Religion. With respect to this book, I subsequently show how Bergson deploys Ravaisson's distinction between instinct and habit to reconceptualize habit as the second of our two natures, our social nature. Lastly, I reconstruct Bergson's late contribution to the philosophy of habit: rather than a tendency that is hard to resist, habit is a resistance to which we tend to submit. By shedding light on the effort that we expend to adhere to them, Bergson's resistance account of habit advances an original and productive perspective on our social habits.