essay 2

Rishi Syal
EXP 389
Kaminsky
21 September 2013
The Power Of Habit Everyone has his or her own habits. Some have good habits that benefit them and some have bad habits that don’t. My bad habit happens to be texting and driving. Something I have really worked on improving because I know it is dangerous not just to me, but everyone around me on the road. In chapters 1-3 of the book The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg explains the habit loop, the role of craving, the golden rule of habit change, and last the role of belief. All habits have a three-step loop called “the habit loop”. This loop consists of the cue, routine, and the reward. “First, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there is the routine, which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future.” (Duhigg #19). For example, the habit loop for people who are addicted to smoking cigarettes. The cue is when they see the pack of cigarettes, or even smell it or see someone else smoking the cigarettes, that is the trigger that makes them want to smoke. Then the routine, which is get the cigarette and smoke it, and then last the reward which is the satisfying feeling they get from the cigarette. My texting and driving habit follows the same principles in the habit loop. When I am driving and I hear a sound from my phone or feel a vibration I instantly want to check what it is. It is usually a text message from someone, or can even be something pointless like an alarm notification but for some reason I just have to see it. When I hear the sound or feel the vibration, that is the cue, the trigger for me to check my phone. The routine is when I actually go to check my phone, and the reward is when I see the message. Have you ever walked by a restaurant, or even drove by a restaurant that was open down the street, and you can clearly smell the food they are cooking? All of a sudden whether you are hungry are not that is the food you desire to have at the moment. That’s called a craving. Craving plays a huge role in habit creation. It is one of the things that really drives the habit. “And that craving is what makes the cues and rewards work.” (Duhigg #33). Wolfram Schultz, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Cambridge did experiments on monkeys’ brains. One monkey named Julio received an award every time he pressed a lever when he saw a colorful shape. His brain activity would spike every time he received the award. He would then anticipate the reward and his brain activity would spike as soon as he saw the colorful shape. He was developing a strong habit. Wolfram then changed the experiment by dilating the juice or have the juice not arrive to Julio at all. Julio would get very upset and depressed and his brain would show a new pattern, craving. This is the same craving that I get when I see the text message on my phone. It’s the only thing I want, just like when people smell the food from walking by a restaurant, or Julio the monkey when he got his reward of juice from pulling the lever. In the novel they talk about a coach named Tony Dungy, who took over a pro football team called the Tampa bay Buccaneers. This football team at the time happened to be the one of the worst teams in the history of national football. But dungy’s coaching was beginning to pay off. He didn’t believe in all the tricky plays, just a few that executed perfectly automatically time after time. He taught the players to stop thinking and start reacting. He turned this football team from one of the worst to one of the greatest teams in football history through one thing. The Golden Rule of habit change. “That’s the rule: if you use the same cue, and provide the same reward, you can shift the routine and change the habit. Almost any behavior can be transformed if the cue and reward stay the same.” (Duhigg #62). So in this case, the football team had the same cue and same reward which was to win, but what dungy changed was how to do it. “But dungy only wanted to attack the middle step, the routine. He knew from experience that it was easier to convince someone to adopt a new behavior if there was something familiar in the beginning and end. “ (Duhigg #62). This Golden rule of habit change works in every habit. For example the smokers. Their habit would be stimulation. Instead of smoking a cigarette as the routine, they have a piece of Nicorette, maybe do a quick series of push ups, or take a few minutes and stretch and relax instead. Changing the routine makes it much more likely to quit. For my habit, the change I can do in my routine is just turn my phone on to silent so I don’t hear any sound or vibration if I get some type of notification. In the process of changing a habit, the one role that really drives us to change is the role of belief. “For a habit to stay changed, people must believe change is possible. And most often, that belief only emerges with the help of a group.” (Duhigg #92). So for smokers, if they wanted to quit smoking, they figure out a different routine that satisfies the craving filled by cigarettes. Then find a group of other former smokers or a community that will help them believe they can stay away from nicotine and use that group when they feel they might stumble. I definitely believe I can change my habit because its something really simple. It just takes one button to put my phone to silent, and I can do it right before I get in my car. In conclusion, all habits have the same principles. They have the cue, routine, and reward. Each habit can also be changed from bad to good by keeping the same cue and reward but changing the middle step which is the routine, and along with changing the routine you have to believe in yourself. I believe my bad habit can change and luckily it is something very simple, and changing this habit will not just benefit me, but everyone around me.