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。

The Present Situation and Prospects of Studies on Habits

Habits are defined as learned sequences of acts that have become automatic responses to specific cues,and are functional in obtaining certain goals or end states.They are important in our daily life.This review analyzes the measurements and theories in habits.And a new model"the HEGA model"of the formation of habits is put forward.The measurement of habits mostly uses self-reported(e.g.,frequency of past behavior,habit frequency,the self-report habit index) and the response frequency measures.Most measures consist of some kind of self-report of the past behavioral frequency.Because a history of repetition forms the basis of a habit,using the past behavioral frequency as a measure of habits does not seem unreasonable(Verplanken,Myrbakk,& Rudi,2005).Verplanken and Orbell(2003) took a different approach and constructed a 12-item self-report instrument to measure habit strength,which was named the Self-Report Habit Index(SRHI).The Response Frequency(RF) measure was developed and used in a research program on traffic mode choices.Four theoretical models,the direct-context-cuing,attitudes cuing,goal-directed and habits-goals interface,are used to explain habit formation.The theory of direct-context-cuing(e.g.,Neal,Wood,& Quinn,2006) holds that habits,learned dispositions to repeat past responses,are triggered by features of the context that have covaried frequently with past performance,including performance locations,preceding actions in a sequence,and particular people.Contexts activate habitual responses directly,without the mediation of goal states.The theory of attitudes cuing such as the theory of planned behaviour(e.g.,Ajzen,1991) maintains that intentions to perform behaviors of different kinds can be predicted with high accuracy from attitudes toward the behavior,subjective norms,and perceived behavioral control;and these intentions,together with perceptions of behavioral control,account for considerable variance in actual behavior.The goal-directed theory(e.g.,Bargh & Gollwitzer,1994;Verplanken & Aarts,1999;Verplanken & Orbell,2003) thinks habits are a form of goal-directed automatic behavior,when habits are established;the very activation of the goal to act automatically evokes the habitual response.The theory of habits-goals interface(e.g.,Wood & Neal,2007) argues that once a habit is formed,perception of contexts triggers the associated response without a mediating goal.Nonetheless,habits interface with goals.Based on the four-theory model of habits and the reciprocal determinism,we put forward a new theory called"the HEGA model"to explain habits.The HEGA model is an idea that a person’s habits behaviors(H) are influences and are influenced by the objective environment(E),the subjective attitudes(A) and the goals-directed including explicit and implicit goals(G).