midnighttrain - The Monday Morning Memo

“Although habit and habituation have a similar sound to them, they have a whole different meaning. Habituation refers to a decrease in response to a stimulus. Take for example your partner that calls you urgently for what they consider important or urgent for them, but it turns out to be something meaningless or just plain silly to you. When this same movie replays a few times, you simply stop responding to their ‘urgent’ call to action. This is called habituating. You get so used to their “boy who cried wolf” behavior that you barely react to it anymore or pay it any attention.

On the other hand, habits refer to a routine behavior like brushing your teeth. Habit formation consists of three parts: the cue, the behavior, and the reward. The cue causes a habitual behavior. The behavior is what one exhibits. And the reward, a positive feeling, encourages the “habit loop”. When a behavior is repeated in the same context several times (it is not a constant number), it becomes automatic, which is the opposite of a behavior that comes from a deliberate thought.”

- Anny Goldman

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