The Dangers of Habit and The Difficulty of Creating Change
October 27th, 2007I spend a lot of my more introspective moments thinking about the interaction between decision making and habitual behavior. We tend to think that we face a decision from a conscious ‘free will’ standpoint, but the evidence suggests that our decision making process are much more like water running down a mountain: as time goes on we create stream beds and eventually rivers, and it gets harder and harder to act non-habitually.
This explains why some people, particularly as they get older, have only a few topics they revisit in most interactions. In my own life I know people who tirelessly revisit:
- The non-existence of god
- The conspiracy of the elite
- Coming judgment day
- Inequality and injustice
- Desiring wealth
In a way these are things that the person is passionate about, and so are a good thing. But at what point are we simply rehashing old conversations without learning anything new?
I think non-habitual actions as a human being are one of the hardest things to achieve. It is something akin to the zen idea of being fully present in the moment, but still fighting the biological impulse to react to a situation in the same way as before.
Of course, some of these reactions are essential for survival and useful for everyday life. But in how many situations have we adopted a behavior that works but is badly suboptimal, or worse, a behavior that is destructive?
Attempting to change ones actions is one of the most difficult things we can do. At times I worry that it’s a futile effort. Even the concept of non-habitual action has problems.
As I get older, and as I see older people who have been stuck on an idea for several years only become more invested in it, I fear that it is an unavoidable trait of humanity that we eventually sink into a more or less automated life.
But there are a few role models that give me hope. Older men and women who are still learning new things and still excited about trying something different. I guess I’d be happy with just being able to change my more destructive habitual behaviors and reactions.
Sometime soon I’ll do through the painful process of looking for habitual choices and interactions that I want to change. Already I know there are topics I’ve been stuck on for several years. Maybe my friends can help point them out to me.
-zot
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December 11th, 2007 at 11:36 am
The point you make is interesting. I too see these behaviors. My area of interest is similar, but focused on the decision-making and behaviors of leaders in large organizations.
I have deduced, through no scientific rigor, that fear and self-preservation are key drivers for the aforementioned.
Also of interest are the hundreds of books and papers written on the behaviors of the “employees”. By employees, this is usually defined as those at the “contributor” level, not those in senior leadership.
Great post, I will be visiting again.
Cheers,
Tony
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:01 am
@Tony: thanks for your interest. I think fear and self-preservation can be great drivers of human behavior, but I think it is too simplistic to pare everything down to those emotions. More and more I think it has a lot to do with people maintaining their self image. If a person considers himself/herself to be caring and supportive, their actions tend to reflect that desire, whereas someone who views themselves as competitive might be more likely to encourage that action.
Of course, we only take action to conform to our own views of ourselves, and that doesn’t prevent us from filtering information so that our actions to other people can seem pretty different from how we perceive them. I think a lot of conflict comes from this dynamic.