46 votes

Studies suggest that relying on will power is hopeless [to eliminate bad habits]. Instead, we must find strategies that don’t require us to be strong.

Posted by ignorabimus
Tags: psychology, willpower, habits, books, wendy wood, good habits bad habits, self control, hippocampus, health.public, research, studies, charles duhigg, the power of habit, author.jerome groopman, source.the new yorker, paywall
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/28/can-brain-science-help-us-break-bad-habits

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Title
Can Brain Science Help Us Break Bad Habits?
Authors
The New Yorker
Published
Oct 17 2019
Word count
2112 words

11 comments

  1. [4]
    vord
    Link
    One thing the author should probably be made aware of is that newer studies are doubting the original conclusions of the marshmallow test. This throws a wrench in the foundation of their arguement...

    One thing the author should probably be made aware of is that newer studies are doubting the original conclusions of the marshmallow test. This throws a wrench in the foundation of their arguement (at a societal level).

    They found that when all of those early childhood measures were equal, a young kid's ability to wait to eat a marshmallow had almost no effect on their future success in school or life.

    25 votes
    1. [3]
      thecakeisalime
      Link Parent
      That's interesting, though I don't think it affects this. The premise here is based on the testing methodology (covering the temptation helps self control), rather than the (possibly) refuted...

      That's interesting, though I don't think it affects this. The premise here is based on the testing methodology (covering the temptation helps self control), rather than the (possibly) refuted conclusion of "self control = success in life".

      This article is basically just reaffirming the adage "Out of sight; out of mind."

      17 votes
      1. [2]
        vord
        Link Parent
        I don't know about that... a lot of what Wood is saying rests on that foundation. Some key excerpts with a quick comment, as I have a lack of time to elaborate my thinking at the moment: Once...

        I don't know about that... a lot of what Wood is saying rests on that foundation. Some key excerpts with a quick comment, as I have a lack of time to elaborate my thinking at the moment:

        For Wood, this outcome shows that self-control is “not so much an inherent disposition but instead a reflection of the situation we are in.” A few tweaks to our environment may enable us to emulate people who seem more disciplined.

        Once accounting for other factors, with willpower not impacting success, it means that you don't necessarily need to emulate people who seem more disciplined.

        “Successful self-control,” Wood writes, “came from essentially covering up the marshmallow.”

        What the other studies were showing is that a much bigger factor was weather the child had been raised in an environment that fostered trust and patience, because if you don't trust that the promise will be kept, eating the marshmallow is logical.

        Separately...this one is one of those "a duh" scientific observations, which I had discussed not that long ago IRL:

        The central force for eliminating bad habits, according to Wood, is “friction”: if we can make bad habits more inconvenient, then inertia can carry us in the direction of virtue, without ever requiring us to be strong.

        I used to live 2 blocks from work and rarely drove, my sister often drives to work now and she lives 2 blocks from work. The key distinguishing factor is that for her, she has easy access to parking near her house. For me, it wasn't worth risking a good parking spot to save myself a 2-block walk in the rain.

        If you don't want to eat junk food, don't buy junk food. The willpower still is a major factor, but injecting it earlier in the process will do more than at the end. Same as "if you don't want to smoke, use your willpower to not buy smokes...not avoid smoking the ones in your pocket."

        It's the core foundation of why you have to implement unpopular policy to make effective change (ie not building sufficient parking to discourage driving).

        3 votes
        1. GreasyGoose
          Link Parent
          I will agree with that to a large extent. I realized post COVID I was drinking way more than I used to and frankly, making whatever excuses since I lived downtown in an apartment where I could...

          I will agree with that to a large extent. I realized post COVID I was drinking way more than I used to and frankly, making whatever excuses since I lived downtown in an apartment where I could just stumble home after happy hour or whatever.

          Now I live in the suburbs, it’s now an entire thing since I’d either have to drive (Nope), Uber/Lyft (Nope) or bring a bottle back home. Essentially, it eliminated a large factor to it.

          2 votes
  2. ignorabimus
    Link
    Sorry, I felt the original title wasn't clear, but the byline is also not perfect.

    Sorry, I felt the original title wasn't clear, but the byline is also not perfect.

    In Mischel’s marshmallow experiment, only a quarter of the subjects were able to resist eating the marshmallow for fifteen minutes. This implies that a large majority of us lack the self-control required to succeed in life. But a less discussed part of the study suggests a way of circumventing our frailty. The researchers compared the results of two situations: in one, children could see the marshmallow in front of them; in the other, they knew that it was there but couldn’t see it. On average, the children lasted only six minutes when presented with visible temptation but could manage ten minutes if the treat was hidden. For Wood, this outcome shows that self-control is “not so much an inherent disposition but instead a reflection of the situation we are in.” A few tweaks to our environment may enable us to emulate people who seem more disciplined.

    A study of self-control among college students bears out this hypothesis. The students were told to report every time they thought, “Oops, I shouldn’t do this”—for instance, when they stayed up too late, overslept, overate, or procrastinated. They were most successful at adopting productive behaviors not when they resolved to do better, or distracted themselves from temptation, but when they altered their environment. Instead of studying on a couch in a dorm, with a TV close by, they went to the library. They ate better when they removed junk food from the dorm refrigerator. “Successful self-control,” Wood writes, “came from essentially covering up the marshmallow.”

    16 votes
  3. hushbucket
    Link
    I tend to agree with the conclusion. Goals are easier to achieve through sustained bite sized wins, instead of a singular herculean push. My own mental model says self control is a skill that can...

    I tend to agree with the conclusion. Goals are easier to achieve through sustained bite sized wins, instead of a singular herculean push. My own mental model says self control is a skill that can be improved, like most other things. In that sense, I'm suspicious of drawing too many conclusions from studies using children and young adults.

    12 votes
  4. DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link
    Honestly this is an example of when universal design refers to our internal strategies, not just literal physical design. Ignoring the marshmallow test itself, folks with ADHD struggle with task...

    Honestly this is an example of when universal design refers to our internal strategies, not just literal physical design. Ignoring the marshmallow test itself, folks with ADHD struggle with task activation, habit forming, impulse control and rewards - so advice about finding strategies to work around these things is one of the huge parts of ADHD "coaching"/therapy/adulting. It's not shocking to me that those strategies would help folks out who are just, say, tired or overwhelmed.

    11 votes
  5. [2]
    Akir
    Link
    I was thinking to myself, “wait, we didn’t know this already?” And then I saw it was published in 2019. I kind of learned this the hard way this past year. One of the things my husband used to...

    I was thinking to myself, “wait, we didn’t know this already?” And then I saw it was published in 2019.

    I kind of learned this the hard way this past year. One of the things my husband used to always scoff at was people who blot out the oil from their food; he would always say “why don’t they just eat less?” Well, for me there is no less. Consuming oil makes me more hungry, not less, and so avoiding it is basically my only choice.

    6 votes
    1. vord
      Link Parent
      That, and too much oil is sometimes gross. I love a good slice of pepperoni pizza, but I can do without the massive layer of grease dripping down my hand.

      That, and too much oil is sometimes gross.

      I love a good slice of pepperoni pizza, but I can do without the massive layer of grease dripping down my hand.

      3 votes
  7. Halfdan
    Link
    I tried asking ChatGPL, but there's a censorwall against using it for science, appearently. But I did create a google ngram for myth of willpower and it looks like it gained some popularity in the...

    I tried asking ChatGPL, but there's a censorwall against using it for science, appearently.

    But I did create a google ngram for myth of willpower and it looks like it gained some popularity in the last decade.

    1 vote