Bad Habits Flashcards
- Friese et al. (2016), implicit alcohol attitudes and drinking behaviour moderated by lPFC
- AIM: alcohol is guided by impulsive processes (dual-process model). High baseline lPFC activation is associated with self-control. Explored how baseline lPFC moderates relationship between implicit alcohol attitudes and drinking.
- METHOD: n=89 who were moderate drinkers: 1) baseline lPFC activity measured with EEG; 2) single category IAT, questionnaire on drinking habits, and AUDIT.
- RESULTS: a positive association between IAT score and drinking (but more strongly for low-baseline lPFC activity).
- CONCLUSION: dual-process model: impulsivity = drinking.
- Gibson et al. (2020), interventions to reduce adolescents sexual risk behaviour
- AIM: tested effectiveness of motivational interviewing vs. behavioural skill training (IV) in reducing sexual risk behaviours.
- METHODS: n=262 16 y.o. (mean) from juvie justice programs. IV = group, 3 DV = measured thrice (pre/post/3 months): theoretical mechanisms (sexual attitudes, self-efficacy etc.), sexual behaviour (freq. unprotected sex), and condom use.
- RESULTS: regarding condom use, both groups increase positive attitudes, self-efficacy, and behaviour, neither group increased perceived norm.
- CONCLUSION: interventions have alike mechanisms = use transdiagnostic mechanisms in future treatment interventions.
- Halpern et al. (2015), 4 financial-incentives for smoking cessation
- AIM: test effectiveness of monetary incentives in smoking cessation.
- METHOD: n=2538 smokers. 2x2 design: group (of 6) vs. individual interventions x 800$ reward if successful vs. 150$ refundable deposit + 650$ reward if successful, but lose deposit if unsuccessful (reward vs. reward + punishment).
- RESULTS: acceptance rate of intervention: reward-based = 90%; deposit-based = 13.7%. All incentives conditions were significantly more successful than normal care at 6 & 12 months, no sig. diff. between any 2x2 groups.
- CONCLUSION: people are most willing to join reward-based programs, ergo more successful.
- Schyns et al. (2020), exposure therapy vs. lifestyle intervention for obesity
- AIM: test effectiveness of exposure therapy (8 sessions) vs lifestyle intervention (usual treatment) on decreasing food cue reactivity in obese people.
- METHOD: n=45 overweight women. IV = treatment; 4 DV = snacking, eating psychopathology, food cue reactivity, and weight loss. ET focused on CS-US expectancy change.
- RESULTS: ET group significantly reduced body weight (2%), snacking, and binge eating freq. vs. control.
- Verplanken & Roy (2016), Habit Discontinuity Hypothesis and sustainable lifestyles
- AIM: test practical effectiveness of HDH (people are more susceptible to interventions during life changes).
- METHOD: n=800, 2x2 design: sustainability intervention vs. control x recently relocated household vs. no relocation. Intervention = personal interview, sustainable goodie bag, green directory, and newsletter. Measured self-reported frequencies of 25 environmental behaviours at baseline and 8 weeks.
- RESULTS: interaction effect between intervention and relocation. Effectiveness of life change dwells after 3 months - in support of HDH.
- Guerrieri et al. (2016), interaction impulsivity and varied food environment
- AIM: test if obesogenic environment + impulsivity = overeating.
- METHOD: n=78 8-10 y.o.
2x2x2 design (IV): low vs. high reward sensitivity x low vs. high response inhibition x monotonous vs. varied food environment. Main DV = caloric intake during taste test. Also tested impulsivity & BMI. - RESULTS: reward sensitivity interacted with environment (high sensitivity + obesogenic environment = more caloric intake). Not reward sensitivity, but response inhibition linked to overweight.
- CONCLUSION: reward sensitivity could cause overeating in an obesogenic environment, and low response inhibition may maintain overeating.
3 executive function abilities
- updating
- inhibition
- task-switching
- goal shifting (bad)
- means shifting (good)
Executive function and eating behaviours
EF contributes to self-regulation of eating behaviour by moderating the relationship between intention and behaviour. Interventions should target all EF abilities rather than just one
Dual-system model of healthy behaviour (aka reflective-impulsive model)
- reflective processes
- impulsive processes
- self-control (inhibiting impulses & transforming reflective processes into actions).
*note; activated schemata can be consistent (impulse and reflection align) or inconsistent (they compete).
3 behavioural change techniques
- changing contents of impulsive system by changing: automatic associations, attentional biases, and approach tendencies (joystick task)
- improving self-control by practicing executive functioning (go/no-go task)
- changing contents of reflective system: increase self-efficacy and motvation etc.
Situational & dispositional moderators of the dual-system
Situational: M&M study - depletion of self-regulatory resources (+high dietary restraint standards) positively associated with M&M consumption = ego-depletion & counterregulation effect.
Dispositional: trait self-control and working memory capacity
Theory of planned behaviour
Behaviour is based on intention, which in turn is influenced by attitudes, percieved norms, and self-efficacy.
Bridging the gap between reflective and impulsive system
The impulsive system is always active whereas the reflective system can be inactive. Whenever the reflective system is activated, it works parallel to the impulsive system - they are not diametrically opposed.
Bidirectionality of behaviour and cognition
Cognition can activate new behavioural schemata, and action too can activate new cognitive pathways.
Mode model
Similair to RIM, has spontaneous and deliberate processing mode. Argues that for the activation of the deliberate processes, one needs both motivation and oppertunity.
Theory of planned behaviour pros and cons
Pros: is widely used/recognized, is meant to predict intentions based on attitudes, self-efficacy, and norms, is meant to enable not motivate, and can be used in behaviour change programs.
Cons: often fails to predict behaviour, assumes behaviour is based on intentions rather than impulses, lack of consistent support for its effectiveness in behaviour change programns.
Reasoned action approach
Basis of TPB but includes external variables (e.g. environment, personality traits, and demographic) as influencing components of TPB. It also adds actual control as a mediator between self-efficacy and behaviour.
Sub-components of TPB
Attitudes:
- affective and cognitive
Percieved norms:
- descriptive (other’s behaviour) and injunctive (other’s approval of behaviour)
- subjective and objective (e.g. laws)
PBC:
- perceived control and self-efficacy
Additional behavioural predictors
Anticipated affective reactions, moral norms, self-identity, and past behaviours.
Intergrated behavioural model
Adds 4 components to the reasoned action approach that directly influence behaviour:
- Salience of behaviour
- Habits
- Environmental constraints
- Knowledge/skill of behaviour
*SHrEK
Moderators of intention behaviour relation
Conceptual factors:
- volition, intention, and expectation.
Reasoned action vs. social reaction (e.g. smoking)
Time interval (between intention and behaviour)
3 Intervention characteristics
- theoretical basis
- behaviour change method
- mode of delivery (format and source)
Effectiveness of interventions on behaviour change
Meta-analyses found that a medium to large change in intention resulted in a small to medium change in behaviour - significant, but not as effective as was previously thought.
Demand and commodities
Demand can be elastic (change) or inelastic (fixed) often based on product need and price = demand curve.
Commodities can be substitutional, complimmentary, or independent (e.g. price of butter goes up, people buy margirine)
Discounting
There are 3 primary discounting variables: delay/temporal, probability, and social.
*Addicts may engage in excessive probability discounting (undervaluing uncertain future rewards).
Hyperbolic discount model “present bias”
Models choice dynamics of e.g. valuing long-term goal higher than instant gratification, but when presented with conflicting immediate reward one engages with it.
Causes of reinforcer pathology
Person-level factors: increased delay discounting and high demand
Dynamic factors: associate conditioning and acute withdrawel
Environmental factors: few or no alternative reinforcers (diminished neural activation for other rewards)
Law of demand
Consumption is inversly related to price and response requirement
Contingency manegement
Change and monitor user’s environment by:
- detecting relapse
- reinforcing abstinence
- rewards/punishments
Effective when rewards are delivered probibalistically or when there is access to paid employment
Community reinforcement approach
Based on operant conditioning, aims to use the environment/community in a way that’s mutually incompatible with substance use (e.g. recreational activities or employment)
Behavioural couple’s therapy
Involves the partner/close friend of the addict, who enforces accountability through e.g. sobriety contracts
Brief motivational interventions
Aims to create awareness around the costs and consequences of substance use
Executive function training and addiction
Addicts often have decreased EF and struggle to delay gratification. Through e.g. fading procedures addicts can learn to delay gratification for bigger rewards
Local vs. global approach
Example chinese vs. italian food.
- Local approach: almost alway pick preferred food.
- Global approach: pick preferred food less to increase the gratification of it.
Traditional vs. behavioural economics
Traditional: assumes people act rationally
Behavioural: recognizes that people often do not act rationally in the sense of maximizing outcome
Prospect theory
People don’t make decisions based on outcome, but based on a cost/benefit evaluation where costs often weigh more than benefits - risk aversion
Endowment effect
When people come into possession of something they usually overestimate its value e.g. selling an item at a price people aren’t willing to pay
Financial incentives and addiction
Financial incentives are effective in the short-term, but long-term abstinence requires some intrinsic motivation too e.g. relapsing once all monetary gains are acquired
Default status quo bias
Maintaining the status quo is oftentimes the path of least resistance
Application for behavioural economics in healthcare
- Probabilistic financial incentives in weight loss interventions
- Ensuring medication adherence via the path of least resistance: 90 vs. 30 day prescriptions and opt-out instead of opt-in systems.
Classical conditioning
Before conditioning: US (food), neutral stimulus (sound), UR (salilvation)
After conditioning: CS (sound) and CR (conditioned response)
Operant conditioing
Behaviour is either positively/negatively reinforced or positively/negatively punished - depending on the outcome the behaviour is repeated or eliminated
5 relapse conditions
- rapid reacquisition: context effect
- reinstatement: US presence provokes relapse
- renewal: when extinction happened outside usual context
- spontaneous recovery (time-elapsed relapse)
- resurgence: when replacement behaviour is extinct
Cue-exposure therapy
CS-noUS exposure has proven effective in some circumstances.
Extinction therapy
Unlearning the CR in the presence of the CS e.g. not eating the bag of chips when watching television
Obesogenic environment
Is based on hedonic eating habits, and interacts with attentional bias, high food cue reactivity, and personality/genetic components to promote unhealthy eating habits
Strengthening inhibition learning
- Over-expectation e.g. expecting to eat all chips then only eating one - leading to extinction
- Space trials over longer time-period
- Counterconditioning and punishment
- Include different contextual cues to avoid renewal
Variety effect
Consuming more food because varied options slow habituation
Renewal effect - ABA; ABC; AAB
Each letter is a different context. The rat study found that AAB was more effective than ABA (though low levels of renewal occured)
Goal-direct actions vs. habits
Goal-directed action mediates the response-outcome relationship, whereas habits mediate the stimulus-response association.
Goal-directed action can become a habit if automated and repeated over time
Associative cybernetic (AC) model
Dual-system of planned action (r-o) and habits (s-r). States that these systems compete but also work together to create s-r-o associations
Model-free vs. model-based decision making
Model-free = selects action that was previously rewarded
Model-based = decides on action based on internal model of assumptions about action-reward outcomes
Components of habits
- Automatic
- Cue-dependent (conditioned association)
- Behavioural repitition
Habits & information processing
Strong habits = less responsive to relevant info about alternative behaviours (transportation study)
Habits and situational cues
Study 1: freq. stadium goers talked louder than others when viewing a picture of a stadium
Study 2: eating stale popcorn in the cinema despite not enjoying them
Goal circuit model
Identifies 3 ways in which goals and habits interact:
habit formation, habit performance, and inferences about causes of behaviour (infer goals based on present behaviours)
Triangular relapse pattern
People tend return to bad habits after a while due to lack of willpower. The triangular pattern was overcome through habit intervention that focused on:
- response repetition
- stable cues
- uncertainty rewards (not constant)
3 habit breaking techniques
- Cue disruption
- Environmental engineering
- Monitoring/inhibiting
Plasticity genes
Associations with specific polymorphisms of dopamine and serotonin and weight gain. Some genes make you more susceptable to the (obesogenic) environment
Environmental layers of differential susceptibility to obesity
- intrauterine environment
- mother-child interaction
- family eating behaviours
- food environment
- individual traits
- socioeconomic status
- gender
Homeostatic vs. hedonic hunger
Homeostatic = hunger after fasting period
Hedonic = hunger based around pleasure and reward
Reward deficiency syndrome
Linked to D2 receptors.
Hyposensitivity = more eating as a result of needing more stimuli to feel rewarded
Hypersensitivity = more eating because it is very rewarding
Behavioural susceptibility theory
States the risk of obesity operates through 2 appetitive processes: eating onset (responsive to food cues) and eating offset (responsive to satiety signals)
Differential susceptability theory
Argues that individuals differ in susceptibility to their environment. It includes both positive (vantage sensitivity) and negative (diathesis-stress) influences.
Individuals can have a plastic or fixed strategy - where a plastic strategy + obesogenic environment = weight gain.
Adaptive calibration model
Patterns in developmental context shapes individual stress responsivity: adverse = vulnerable; supportive = vantage; and neutral = general
Neurosensitivity hypothesis
Sensitivity to the central nervous system is determined by sensitivity genes and environment
