The importance of routines for the performance of everyday activities

Whether the weekly frequency with which everyday activities (e.g., taking a shower, running for exercise) are performed is determined by intentions to perform the activities at different frequencies rather than by routines was investigated. Sixty-four subjects participated in an experiment in which self-reported frequency of performance of 10 activities was predicted from indicated intentions as well as from self-reports of the frequency with which the activities were performed a previous week. The results were as expected for a few of the activities, whereas for a majority of them performance was predicted from previous frequency without the mediation of intentions. Consistent with the conclusion that routines played a more important role than intentions, it was also found that intentions failed to predict performance better the following week than it predicted performance the week after that week. Conditions under which intentions may be a more important determinant were discussed.