IELTS Reading Practice: The Psychology of Habit

Researchers who study behaviour have long been interested in how habits form, and why they can be so difficult to break. A widely cited model describes habit formation as a three-part loop: a cue, which triggers the behaviour; a routine, which is the behaviour itself; and a reward, which reinforces the loop and makes it more likely to be repeated in the future.

What makes habits particularly powerful is that, once established, they require very little conscious thought to execute. Brain imaging studies suggest that as a behaviour becomes habitual, activity shifts from regions associated with decision-making to regions associated with automatic, routine action. This is efficient — it frees up mental resources for other tasks — but it also explains why habits can persist even when a person consciously wants to change them.

Popular advice often suggests that it takes 21 days to form a new habit, but this figure appears to have little scientific basis. A widely referenced study on habit formation found that, on average, it took participants 66 days for a new behaviour to become automatic, with considerable variation between individuals and depending on the complexity of the behaviour in question. Simple habits, like drinking a glass of water after waking up, formed faster than more complex ones, like doing 50 sit-ups every morning.

One practical implication of the cue-routine-reward model is that breaking a bad habit is often more effective when the routine is replaced rather than simply removed. Since the cue and reward remain part of the loop, substituting a new, healthier routine — while keeping the same cue and a similarly satisfying reward — tends to be more sustainable than trying to eliminate the behaviour through willpower alone.