Lecture 7 Habits and automatic influence
Hanneke Bos 6167055
This week’s readings and lecture focused on habits. Habits and self-control were
long thought to be opposing forces. However, recent literature on self-control and
habits finds that they can in fact be related. Carden & Wood (2018) explain this
relation in their paragraph on effortless self-control and cite several papers to
support their reasoning. Please explain the relation between self-control and habits
in your own words and then support your explanation by summarizing 1 of the
papers Carden & Wood briefly cite in their paragraph on effortless self-control (refs
12; 26-32).
Use a maximum of 400 words :
Psychology has focused on flexible responses which are unconsciously activated by goals.
Habits have a fixed response pattern, but are now getting more recognition in the literature, as
automatically activated responses that can help achieve goals. The main benefit of forming
habits is to reduce the need for self control and inhibition. People with high traits of self
control have more habits for healthy activities and less habits for unhealthy activities. For
these people, self control is a situational strategy that help them. The positive habits help with
avoiding conflicting desires. These people are actively avoiding situations that put them in
contact with temptations and distractions. People who have the foresight to arrange their
environments in such a way that they reduce temptations, are more likely to achieve their
goals. These people possibly used self control in the beginning stages of habit formation and
after the habits are formatted, effortless self control takes over (Carden & Wood, 2018).
Galla and Duckworth (2015) found evidence that beneficial habits mediate the
relationship between goal attainment and self control. They performed six studies that
supports their hypotheses that the reason individuals with better self control use less effortful
inhibition, make better progress on their goals because of the reliance on beneficial habits. In
the first study they found that healthy habits for healthy snacks, exercising and consistent
sleeping mediated the effect of self control. In study two and three beneficial habits mediated
the effect of self control and caused greater ability to study, even in difficult circumstances. In
study four this was also seen for classroom engagement and homework completion. Study
five was a longitudinal study that showed that better self control before an meditation retreat
predicted stronger meditation habits three months after the retreat. Study six showed that
study habits mediated the effect of self control on important academic outcomes and
Hanneke Bos 6167055
This week’s readings and lecture focused on habits. Habits and self-control were
long thought to be opposing forces. However, recent literature on self-control and
habits finds that they can in fact be related. Carden & Wood (2018) explain this
relation in their paragraph on effortless self-control and cite several papers to
support their reasoning. Please explain the relation between self-control and habits
in your own words and then support your explanation by summarizing 1 of the
papers Carden & Wood briefly cite in their paragraph on effortless self-control (refs
12; 26-32).
Use a maximum of 400 words :
Psychology has focused on flexible responses which are unconsciously activated by goals.
Habits have a fixed response pattern, but are now getting more recognition in the literature, as
automatically activated responses that can help achieve goals. The main benefit of forming
habits is to reduce the need for self control and inhibition. People with high traits of self
control have more habits for healthy activities and less habits for unhealthy activities. For
these people, self control is a situational strategy that help them. The positive habits help with
avoiding conflicting desires. These people are actively avoiding situations that put them in
contact with temptations and distractions. People who have the foresight to arrange their
environments in such a way that they reduce temptations, are more likely to achieve their
goals. These people possibly used self control in the beginning stages of habit formation and
after the habits are formatted, effortless self control takes over (Carden & Wood, 2018).
Galla and Duckworth (2015) found evidence that beneficial habits mediate the
relationship between goal attainment and self control. They performed six studies that
supports their hypotheses that the reason individuals with better self control use less effortful
inhibition, make better progress on their goals because of the reliance on beneficial habits. In
the first study they found that healthy habits for healthy snacks, exercising and consistent
sleeping mediated the effect of self control. In study two and three beneficial habits mediated
the effect of self control and caused greater ability to study, even in difficult circumstances. In
study four this was also seen for classroom engagement and homework completion. Study
five was a longitudinal study that showed that better self control before an meditation retreat
predicted stronger meditation habits three months after the retreat. Study six showed that
study habits mediated the effect of self control on important academic outcomes and
