THE SCIENCE OF HOW HABITS WORK

THE SCIENCE OF HOW HABITS WORK
The process of building a habit can be divided into four simple steps: cue,
craving, response, and reward.
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Breaking it down into these fundamental
parts can help us understand what a habit is, how it works, and how to
improve it.
FIGURE 5: All habits proceed through four stages in the same order: cue,
craving, response, and reward.
This four-step pattern is the backbone of every habit, and your brain runs
through these steps in the same order each time.
First, there is the cue. The cue triggers your brain to initiate a behavior.
It is a bit of information that predicts a reward. Our prehistoric ancestors
were paying attention to cues that signaled the location of primary rewards
like food, water, and sex. Today, we spend most of our time learning cues
that predict secondary rewards like money and fame, power and status,
praise and approval, love and friendship, or a sense of personal satisfaction.
(Of course, these pursuits also indirectly improve our odds of survival and
reproduction, which is the deeper motive behind everything we do.)
Your mind is continuously analyzing your internal and external
environment for hints of where rewards are located. Because the cue is the
first indication that we’re close to a reward, it naturally leads to a craving.
Cravings are the second step, and they are the motivational force behind
every habit. Without some level of motivation or desire—without craving a
change—we have no reason to act. What you crave is not the habit itself but
the change in state it delivers. You do not crave smoking a cigarette, you
crave the feeling of relief it provides. You are not motivated by brushing
your teeth but rather by the feeling of a clean mouth. You do not want to
turn on the television, you want to be entertained. Every craving is linked to
a desire to change your internal state. This is an important point that we will
discuss in detail later.
Cravings differ from person to person. In theory, any piece of
information could trigger a craving, but in practice, people are not
motivated by the same cues. For a gambler, the sound of slot machines can
be a potent trigger that sparks an intense wave of desire. For someone who
rarely gambles, the jingles and chimes of the casino are just background
noise. Cues are meaningless until they are interpreted. The thoughts,
feelings, and emotions of the observer are what transform a cue into a
craving.
The third step is the response. The response is the actual habit you
perform, which can take the form of a thought or an action. Whether a
response occurs depends on how motivated you are and how much friction
is associated with the behavior. If a particular action requires more physical
or mental effort than you are willing to expend, then you won’t do it. Your
response also depends on your ability. It sounds simple, but a habit can
occur only if you are capable of doing it. If you want to dunk a basketball
but can’t jump high enough to reach the hoop, well, you’re out of luck.
Finally, the response delivers a reward. Rewards are the end goal of
every habit. The cue is about noticing the reward. The craving is about
wanting the reward. The response is about obtaining the reward. We chase
rewards because they serve two purposes: (1) they satisfy us and (2) they
teach us.
The first purpose of rewards is to satisfy your craving. Yes, rewards
provide benefits on their own. Food and water deliver the energy you need
to survive. Getting a promotion brings more money and respect. Getting in
shape improves your health and your dating prospects. But the more
immediate benefit is that rewards satisfy your craving to eat or to gain
status or to win approval. At least for a moment, rewards deliver
contentment and relief from craving.
Second, rewards teach us which actions are worth remembering in the
future. Your brain is a reward detector. As you go about your life, your
sensory nervous system is continuously monitoring which actions satisfy
your desires and deliver pleasure. Feelings of pleasure and disappointment
are part of the feedback mechanism that helps your brain distinguish useful
actions from useless ones. Rewards close the feedback loop and complete
the habit cycle.
If a behavior is insufficient in any of the four stages, it will not become a
habit. Eliminate the cue and your habit will never start. Reduce the craving
and you won’t experience enough motivation to act. Make the behavior
difficult and you won’t be able to do it. And if the reward fails to satisfy
your desire, then you’ll have no reason to do it again in the future. Without
the first three steps, a behavior will not occur. Without all four, a behavior
will not be repeated.
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