Too often, when we find ourselves falling short of goals we have set, we start to question what is wrong with us.  We may even label ourselves with negative names such as lazy, stupid, or just plain crazy.  In our attempt to move forward, we may delve into trying to understand how we became so incompetent.  However, for most people this self-degradation does little to help us gain ground.  On the contrary, it usually leads us more deeply into a cycle of experiencing endless unmet goals and resultant feelings of worthlessness.

Turning toward a scientific model of habits will help you understand how to design an action plan that is more likely to lead to successful long-term change.  The book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business seeks to explain the science behind the habits that shape our lives (Charles Duhigg, 2012).  The fact that the book was on the NY Times’ Best Sellers list for 37 weeks and was translated into 31 languages lets us know how strong our interest is in understanding what makes habits tick and what makes them stop.

Let’s start with a description of how habits are formed.  This is where the field of behavioral psychology comes in.  The concepts of operant and classical conditioning are key to understanding habit formation.  As far back as 1937, BF Skinner touted the need for functional analysis of behavior and its reinforcing consequences. His ideas developed into the concept of operant conditioning. The idea is that every behavior we engage in is reinforced in some way.  Initially, when we carry out an action, we experience a consequence.  This outcome may be positive, negative, or neutral.  We very quickly develop an association with the behavior and its reward or punishment.  At the same time, we also begin to make other associations with the reward or punishment that become classically conditioned, a term coined by Pavlov and explained below.  Let’s explore some common examples to see how operant and classical conditioning may play out with our behavior.

Consider a scenario in which you have set the intention to become more physically active.  More specifically, you tell yourself that you will add some form of exercise after work every day.  However, that week you find your plan thwarted  several times: first, coworkers invite you for happy hour; on another occasion you work late to finish a project; and later in the week you are diverted by news of a sick child and head straight home.  Now, your goal is likely even further from your reach than when you set it.   The problem is that you have unintentionally reinforced other ways of being.

In operant conditioning, there are two broad categories of reinforcement: positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. It is important to understand that, in this context, “positive” and “negative” are not synonymous with “good” and “bad.” Instead, think of “positive” as adding, “negative” as subtracting, and both as making a certain behavior (or, as in this example, lack thereof) more likely in the future. Not working out was positively reinforced by the addition of pleasant feelings and increased hormones of socializing and getting more work completed.  It’s also possible that skipping your workout was negatively reinforced by removing (subtracting) guilt associated with going to do something for yourself instead of spending time with the children.

This pattern can be changed by setting up some strong reinforcements for your target behavior until it becomes intrinsic.  So, tell your friends you would love to meet them on a different night after you have met your fitness goal .  With regard to work, set some simple but important tasks you can accomplish during or shortly after your workout.  For example, perhaps you can listen to podcasts or use a voice recorder to brainstorm while you are on the elliptical. Lastly, when your original plan is hindered by the more immediate task of needing to assist a loved one, remind yourself that taking care of yourself will help you continue to take care of others in the long run.

To make changing habits even harder, there is another form of conditioning at play as well.  Under the psychological theory of classical conditioning, we develop associations with a variety of environmental stimuli.  Another way to think of this is the cues that occur when we are engaging in behavior.  In Pavlov’s experiments we learned that a dog who heard a bell every time he ate eventually salivated to the sound of the bell even when the food was not present.  That is, the food was an unconditioned stimulus that naturally caused the unconditioned response of salivation. However, pairing the food with the sound of the bell (an otherwise neutral stimulus) caused the sound to become a conditioned stimulus leading to salivation even in the absence of the food (so now, salivation had become a conditioned response to the bell). The reference to “Pavlov’s Dog” is pertinent as we think about environmental stimuli that are associated with behaviors we want to change.

To understand how classical conditioning may play a role in your habits, let’s reflect on the following situation.  You are trying to get some work done from home, and you are having a hard time focusing because of many distractions.  When you get up to clear your head, you see some cookies and start snacking away.  If you do this a few times, the simple act of sitting down to work may begin to trigger a craving for cookies, even without the stimulus of actually seeing the cookies .

One might notice that these patterns are so complex that both classical and operant conditioning may be factors in increasing the same set of behaviors.  That is, you have likely also positively reinforced getting up to eat a cookie with the addition of pleasurable sensations in the body from the sugar you have ingested. Moreover, you may even have been unaware that you were hungry.  Now, you have negatively reinforced the behavior by taking away the hunger.  With either type of conditioning, this tendency to stop what you are doing and get up to get a cookie is likely to continue to reoccur and develop into a habit.

In summary, the principles of conditioning predict that individuals will engage in behaviors that reproduce positive responses such as feelings of pleasure and enjoyment.  Furthermore, the cues associated with those behaviors will become triggers for continued behavior.  This understanding becomes important when you set a personal goal such as snacking less to lose weight.  In order to be successful, it is imperative to take inventory  of your cycle of conditioning so you can more effectively intervene in it.  Part two of this article will feature further instructions on how to change this habit loop!