Habits are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly, tend to occur subconsciously The term subconscious is used in many different contexts and has no single or precise definition. This greatly limits its significance as a meaning-bearing concept, and in consequence the word tends to be avoided in academic and scientific settings, without directly thinking consciously Consciousness is often used colloquially to describe being awake and aware—responsive to the environment, in contrast to being asleep or in a coma. In philosophical and scientific discussion, however, the term is restricted to the specific way in which humans are mentally aware in such a way that they distinguish clearly between themselves and about them.[1][2][3] Habitual behavior sometimes goes unnoticed in persons exhibiting them, because it is often unnecessary to engage in self-analysis when undertaking in routine tasks. Habituation is an extremely simple form of learning Learning is acquiring new knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, preferences or understanding, and may involve synthesizing different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals and some machines. Progress over time tends to follow learning curves, in which an organism, after a period of exposure to a stimulus, stops responding to that stimulus in varied manners. Habits are sometimes compulsory.[3][4][unreliable source?]
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Habits and Goals
The habit–goal interface is constrained by the particular manner in which habits are learned and represented in memory. Specifically, the associative learning underlying habits is characterized by the slow, incremental accrual of information over time in procedural memory[5] Habits can either benefit or hurt the goals a person set for themselves.
Habits in the Service of Goals
Goals guide habits most fundamentally by providing the initial outcome-oriented impetus for response repetition. In this sense, habits often are a vestige of past goal pursuit.[5]
See also
- Behaviors with habitual elements
- Childhood obesity Childhood obesity is a condition where excess body fat negatively affects a child's health or wellbeing. As methods to determine body fat directly are difficult, the diagnosis of obesity is often based on BMI. Due to the rising prevalence of obesity in children and its many adverse health effects it is being recognized as a serious public health
- Nail-biting Bitten fingertips can become very sensitive to pain, usually at the place the skin meets the edge of the nail. Hangnails are broken skin on the cuticle. When they are improperly removed, they are susceptible to microbial and viral infections producing whitlows. When the nails are infected with saliva the scratching of them makes the skin get red
- Neurodermatitis There are still references in the older literature to the psychosomatic nature of these disorders, and their accompanying "psychogenic" itch. This is why the older terms had "neuro" in them: as a reference to the link with mental illness. There continues to be a suspicion of obsessive-compulsive behaviors leading to some forms
- Nose-picking
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a human anxiety disorder characterized by involuntary intrusive thoughts. When a sufferer begins to acknowledge these intrusive thoughts, the sufferer then develops anxiety based on the dread that something bad will happen. The sufferer feels compelled to voluntarily perform irrational, time-consuming behaviors to
- Procrastination Procrastination is a behavior which is characterized by the deferment of actions or tasks to a later time. Psychologists often cite procrastination as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision. Psychology researchers also have three criteria they use to categorize procrastination. For a
- Thumb sucking
- Bulimia Bulimia nervosa can be difficult to detect, compared to anorexia nervosa, because bulimics tend to be of average or slightly above or below average weight. Many bulimics may also engage in significantly disordered eating and exercising patterns without meeting the full diagnostic criteria for bulimia nervosa
- Factors Influencing Choice
- Preference Preference is a concept, used in the social sciences, particularly economics. It assumes a real or imagined "choice" between alternatives and the possibility of rank ordering of these alternatives, based on happiness, satisfaction, gratification, enjoyment, utility they provide. More generally, it can be seen as a source of motivation
- Values A personal and cultural value is a relative ethic value, an assumption upon which implementation can be extrapolated. A value system is a set of consistent values and measures. A principle value is a foundation upon which other values and measures of integrity are based. Values are considered subjective, vary across people and cultures and are in
- Habit
- Tradition However, on a more basic theoretical level, tradition can be seen as information or composed of information. For that which is brought into the present from the past, in a particular societal context, is information. This is even more fundamental than particular acts or practices even if repeated over a long sequence of time
- Social pressure Peer pressure refers to the influence exerted by a peer group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes, values, or behavior in order to conform to the group. Social groups affected include membership groups, when the individual is "formally" a member , or a social clique. A person affected by peer pressure may or may not
- Emotional Comfort
- Economy An economy is the realized economic system of a country or other area. It includes the production, exchange, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area. The study of different types and examples of economies is the subject of economic systems. A given economy is the end result of a process that involves its technological
- Image An image is an artifact, or has to do with a two-dimensional (a picture), that has a similar appearance to some subject—usually a physical object or a person
- Medical Conditions
References
- ^ Butler, Gillian; Hope, Tony. Managing Your Mind: The mental fitness guide. Oxford Paperbacks, 1995
- ^ Merriam Webster Dictionary. Definition of Habit. Retrieved on August 29, 2008.
- ^ a b Merriam Webster dictionary. Definition of Habituation. Retrieved on August 29, 2008
- ^ "Habituation." Animalbehavioronline.com. Retrieved on August 29, 2008.
- ^ a b American Psychological Association. A New Look at Habits and the Habit–Goal Interface Retrieved on December 22, 2008
External links
- James Rowland Angell and Addison W. Moore. "Studies from the Psychological Laboratory of the University of Chicago: 1. Reaction-Time: A Study in Attention and Habit." Psychological Review 3, (1896): 245-258.)
Categories: Learning Learning is the acquisition and development of memories and behaviors, including skills, knowledge, understanding, values, and wisdom | Behavior In animals, behavior is controlled by the endocrine system and the nervous system. Animal behavior is studied in comparative psychology, ethology, behavioral ecology, behavioral ecology and sociobiology | Human behavior Categories: Behavior | Humans | Social psychology
Q. i mean, i do it a lot, like chew the cover of my pen or pencil , im just curious if this means anything at all or is it just a plain nasty habit
Asked by haringmarumo - Tue Jul 29 03:43:11 2008 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments
A. Freud would call you an "oral" person, somone fixated on chewing or sucking, especially on non-food items. Sucking is the primary source of pleasure for a newborn, and oral people are associated with newborn habits. People can get stuck at this stage as adults if they as babies are under or over-fulfilled. Oral people are either very dependant, wanting people to do everything for them, or very independant seeing other people as unable to meet their needs. Under stress they may flip-flop. You may not correspond to this a whole lot, but under freuds ideas, everyone had a type. At least be glad you're not "anal"!
Answered by Jen A. - Tue Jul 29 03:59:58 2008
