Voices
level for participants. In one
study, the researchers tracked
the behavior of participants
over a series of days. On a few
of those days, participants were
asked to perform their daily activities with their nondominant
hand. So, if they routinely used
their left hand while talking on
the cell phone, they should now
use their right hand. This manipulation is known to cause
stress to the willpower system
by requiring a lot of effortful
self-control.
On the days when participants
had to use their non-dominant
hand, they were much more likely
to perform both good and bad
habits than they were on days
when they were allowed to use
their dominant hand.
Other studies in this paper
demonstrated that people fall
back on their habits because they
are acting without thinking. They
are not explicitly choosing to act
based on their habits when their
willpower is depleted.
This study adds to a growing literature demonstrating the
power of habits in daily action.
When the going gets tough, the
natural response is to fall back
on the behaviors that have car-
ART
MARKMAN
ried you through so many other
situations in the past.
That is why it is crucial to
work on developing good habits. It is hard to rise to the occasion in times of stress. When you
have lots of exams, a big project
at work, or are going through a
stressful period in a relationship, you simply do not have the
mental energy to rise to the occasion. Instead, you just want
When the going
gets tough, the natural
response is to fall
back on the behaviors
that have carried you
through so many other
situations in the past.”
to get through the day. In those
cases, your habits will drive a lot
of your behavior. The more that
your habits push you toward behaviors that support your goals,
the better you will do in
stressful situations.
Art Markman, Ph.D. is Annabel Irion
Worsham Centennial Professor of
Psychology and Marketing at the
University of Texas at Austin.
HUFFINGTON
06.30-07.07.13