![]() ![]() It is therefore important to analyze precisely where exactly habits may reside. These activities are characterized by repetition, but seemingly not so much by automaticity. After all, many who practice sport and exercise do that intentionally and mindfully. Where is the habit? One may wonder whether habits really exist in the domain of sport and exercise. Habits may thus be planned in a particular environment and may be promoted by, for instance, the use of implementation intentions. This implies identifying and changing or removing the cues that trigger old habits and engineering the environment for new habits to establish and flourish. Although motivation and attitude change may certainly help make changes, managing the environments in which behavior occurs may be paramount to success if strong habits are involved. ![]() Habits are thus less likely to change through motivation and attitude change. Whereas new or deliberate behaviors are controlled by conscious intentions and willpower, which is very much in line with prevalent sociocognitive models such as the theory of planned behavior, habits are to a much larger degree controlled by the external environment. The fact that habits are dependent on and elicited by cues in the environment where the behavior takes place points to a shift in locus of control when behavior becomes habitual. It incorporates the various facets of habit, such as the experience of repetition and the lack of awareness and conscious intent. It is a 12-item scale, which assesses habit as a psychological construct. The Self Report Habit Index has been developed for that purpose. If we accept that behavioral frequency is an inadequate definition of habit, the traditional way of using behavioral frequency as a measure of habit should be replaced by one that is commensurate to the new definition. Such a habit may flourish if this person has a stable pattern of returning from work and having dinner at the same time and location but would be difficult to maintain in the face of irregular work times or if this person would travel a lot. For instance, a person may have developed the habit of running twice a week after work and before having dinner. Habits thrive in stable conditions, where the same cue elicits the habitual response time and again. ![]() Habits are often elicited by specific cues, such as a particular time, location, physiological state, or the presence of an object or person. This pillar is not so much a feature of the habit itself, but rather of the conditions and environments where habits occur. This relates to the third pillar of habit, which is context stability. If a habit has been developed, the recognition or activation of a goal may thus automatically elicit the accompanying habit. While habits are forms of automatic behavior, they are functional and goal directed we develop habits that serve us in one way or another, no matter whether these goals are constructive or unconstructive. Habits are typically executed with relatively little mental effort, awareness, and conscious intent. These qualities make habits being experienced as easy or fluent there is not much thought involved or needed to carry them out. However, repetition is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for behavior to qualify as habit, hence a second pillar, which is automaticity. Habits are formed by repeating behavior with satisfactory outcomes and without repetition there is no habit. The first pillar obviously is repetition. Such a definition of habit rests on three pillars. An athlete may regularly attempt to break the world record in sprinting, but few would consider this as a habit. The first problem is that it is unclear how frequently behavior must be executed in order to qualify as a habit does a habit exist after 2, 4, or 20 repetitions? Secondly, frequent behavior is not necessarily a habit. However, there are problems with this definition. In the psychological literature, habit has always been defined in terms of frequency of behavior, which was inherited from the behaviorist school. ![]()
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