6.2 Habits Flashcards
Habits in “Touching the Void”
Guy crushed leg and used habits to survive in a very cold mountain.
How would you model Joe’s situation with the VE? Overall goal is to survive, but:
- Broken leg, so each step is very painful (R)
- pS is very low
- Far from camp (D)
If we go by value equation, he would just lie down and die.
However, in the excerpt, he said he found a routine and stuck to it. This routine was bend, hop, then rest. This is how he gradually made his way forward despite the agony
Habits - Definition
How would you define a habit?
A habit is: an automated response that is cued by aspects of the performance context, such as the environment, the preceding actions, …
Habits - Automaticity
Automaticity is why habits are interesting, because we can use them to bypass the decision making process.
What did we say would have happened to Joe based on motivation and VE? He would have died.
When the associated context cue is encountered, the habitual response is automatically activated. While enactment of behaviours regulated by motivation typically requires deliberate effort, habits are though to be triggered automatically and so may occur in the absence of awareness, control, mental effort, and deliberation
You do have to make a conscious decision to cultivate it first.
Summary:
- Cue
- Response
- Automatic
- Bypass VE
Habits - Brain systems
Habitual control is associated with dopamine and dorsolateral striatum, and more cognitive search with prefrontal cortex. The controllers can operate independently
Systems are distinct for habits and higher level reasoning.
Habit slips - Pigeons
Habit slip: When an intended action and a habit share a performance context or some action component and the habit overrides the expected action
Trained to peck a button to get food
Empty cup in chamber while training
Once trained: Cup filled with grain (basically food without work)
Observe: Occasionally sample food from cup, but mostly kept pecking button.
Habit Slip: Contradicts VE. There is a habit slip, because pecking button override behaviour for free food
Habit slips - Rats
Rats trained to navigate maze
Cross maze to get to food at end
Once trained: Pile of food in the middle
Rats run past the pile without stopping
Habit slips - Humans
People appear to slip up by performing unwanted habits about 6 times a week, especially when their attention is diverted from the task at hand.
Can you remember a habit slip that happened to you recently? Identify the cue and the automatic response.
Prof: Trying to get to lab and tapping student ID on little box. Every now and then, he taps the home key fob instead of ID.
Forming and breaking a habit
To form a habit, frequency and consistency of a cue and action is the key.
To break it, you need frequent violation of the pairing of cue and response (either do a different response or don’t do anything)
If you miss a day,
Study on eating a fruit with lunch
Consistency predictive of more automaticity
One missed opportunity had a negligible impact on habit formation
How long does it take?
Wide individual differences. From 18 to 254 days
Focus habit
Something we can use for learning
- Make a clear goal, and create a checkbox
- Set a 25 minute timer. That timer is the cue
- Work for 25 minutes, without stopping. Consistency is important, so this must be consistently uninterrupted
- After timer runs out, check of the checklist and feel a sense of accomplishment.
- Repeat as necessary
Need to pay attention to things:
- Try to schedule all work in 25 minutes chunk
- Plan work based on how many 25 min chunk it will take
- Never go longer than 25 minutes for a single chunk
- Take a 5 minutes break after a chunk (involving some movement, preferably)
- Avoid taking breaks that have the same situation as working
Why should we take care of that last point? Example, staying at computer for work and rest. You’re confusing everything, as the environment is the same. You’re forming and breaking the habit at every step
Unfortunately, a lot of out work tools have become our play tools as well, which doesn’t help with this
