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2024-07-08

Tags: Habits

Habit building (or destruction) is framed in a modified stimulus/response theory as promoted by the likes of Watson and Skinner that is (1) cue, (2) craving, (3) response, and (4) reward. Trying to exercise self-control, while useful, is not a winning strategy compared to modifying your environment to include less temptation (cues) in the first place. The reward following the habit (later explained to be fix or variable interval) is not actually what motivates the behavior; it is the anticipation of the reward that moves us to action. If you want to build a certain type of habit, it is very effective to surround yourself with people that are part of that habit's culture. An extreme example of this is given where a pair of Hungarian parents trained their three daughters to be chess masters by immersing them in the habit of practicing and playing chess.