Department of Psychology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
EnAble Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
Health Psychol Rev. 2023 Sep;17(3):402-415. doi: 10.1080/17437199.2022.2060849. Epub 2022 Apr 6.
Behavioural theories, predictions, and interventions should be relevant to complex, real-world health behaviours and conditions. Habit theory and habit formation interventions show promise for predicting and promoting, respectively, longer-term behaviour change and maintenance than has been attained with theories and interventions focused only on deliberative behavioural factors. However, the concept of habit has largely been treated as uniform across different types of behaviours. In this conceptual review, we contend that the definitional aspects of habit differ at a conceptual level for simple versus more complex behaviours, with ramifications for prediction, promotion, and measurement of habits. Specifically, habits are defined as - but what is meant by 'response' and 'reward' depends upon the complexity of the behaviour. We review literature that suggests (1) responses in complex habits have separable and substitutable components (vs a single and static, unitary component) and (2) rewards for complex habits are necessarily continued and intrinsic (vs temporary and extrinsic, respectively). We discuss some empirical and theoretical questions raised by these issues around behavioural complexity and habit. Lastly, we outline the ramifications of these issues for habit measurement (habit strength and habit formation) via self-report and objective measures.
行为理论、预测和干预措施应该与复杂的现实世界中的健康行为和状况相关。习惯理论和习惯形成干预措施在预测和促进长期行为改变和维持方面显示出了希望，而专注于深思熟虑的行为因素的理论和干预措施则没有达到这一效果。然而，习惯的概念在很大程度上被认为在不同类型的行为中是统一的。在这篇概念性评论中，我们认为习惯的定义方面在简单行为和更复杂行为之间存在概念上的差异，这对习惯的预测、促进和测量都有影响。具体来说，习惯被定义为——但“反应”和“奖励”的含义取决于行为的复杂性。我们回顾了一些文献，这些文献表明：（1）复杂习惯中的反应具有可分离和可替代的成分（而不是单一和静态的、单一的成分）；（2）复杂习惯的奖励必然是持续的和内在的（而分别是暂时的和外在的）。我们讨论了这些关于行为复杂性和习惯的问题所带来的一些实证和理论问题。最后，我们通过自我报告和客观测量，概述了这些问题对习惯测量（习惯强度和习惯形成）的影响。
