WEBVTT - How to Break Up with Your Bad Habits 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:26.156 Pushkin. Hey, Happiness Lab listeners, welcome back to our special 0:00:26.196 --> 0:00:29.596 series on spring Cleaning Your Happiness. In honor of this 0:00:29.636 --> 0:00:32.716 season of new beginnings, we're clearing out all our outdated 0:00:32.756 --> 0:00:35.876 behaviors and mindsets so that we can refresh our emotional 0:00:35.956 --> 0:00:38.876 junk drawers, so to speak. We'll also be doing our 0:00:38.876 --> 0:00:41.876 own Happiness Lab closet refresh as we head back into 0:00:41.916 --> 0:00:45.316 the episode archives to find throwback insights from past episodes 0:00:45.356 --> 0:00:47.716 that you might have missed, And in today's episode from 0:00:47.756 --> 0:00:50.676 the archives, we're diving into a very tough spring clean 0:00:50.756 --> 0:00:55.356 up job. We'll be exploring how to freshen up our habits. Now, 0:00:55.436 --> 0:00:57.076 I'm going to go out on a limb and guess 0:00:57.116 --> 0:00:59.276 that there's at least one routine that you do on 0:00:59.316 --> 0:01:02.396 autopilot all the time, even though it makes you feel 0:01:02.596 --> 0:01:05.796 kind of crappy. Wouldn't you like to break free, to 0:01:05.796 --> 0:01:08.356 toss out that bad habit like an old pair of genes, 0:01:08.556 --> 0:01:10.756 and replace it with a routine that fits your current 0:01:10.796 --> 0:01:14.036 goals a bit better. That sounds awesome in theory, you're 0:01:14.036 --> 0:01:16.916 probably thinking, but is it really possible to break a 0:01:16.956 --> 0:01:21.716 well learned bad habit? Turns out yes, totally possible, but 0:01:21.836 --> 0:01:24.596 the process is way easier if you have a more 0:01:24.676 --> 0:01:27.916 nuanced understanding of the way our brains structure habits and 0:01:27.956 --> 0:01:30.596 how they really work. And that is what you're going 0:01:30.636 --> 0:01:33.116 to learn in our episode. Today. You're going to meet 0:01:33.156 --> 0:01:35.636 a scientist who sleeps in her running gear and a 0:01:35.716 --> 0:01:38.836 Vietnam war doc who turned to heroin addicts to debink 0:01:38.916 --> 0:01:42.396 some important misconceptions about habit change. By the end of 0:01:42.396 --> 0:01:45.196 the show, you'll have gained some practical tips for dropping 0:01:45.276 --> 0:01:48.596 your own not so great routines and for building healthier ones. 0:01:49.436 --> 0:01:51.876 Sound good, We'll get ready to clear out all your 0:01:51.916 --> 0:01:55.396 bad habits with this week's Spring Cleaning Happiness Lab throwback 0:01:55.716 --> 0:01:58.156 coming up right after this quick break. 0:02:11.196 --> 0:02:13.996 For starters. It was the last thing I particularly wanted 0:02:14.036 --> 0:02:14.396 to do. 0:02:15.036 --> 0:02:18.356 Like many young Americans back in nineteen seventy, Richard Ratner 0:02:18.396 --> 0:02:20.156 wasn't all that excited about going to war. 0:02:20.676 --> 0:02:23.556 I had just been married, and when I found out 0:02:23.556 --> 0:02:26.716 that I was going to Vietnam, we try to figure 0:02:26.716 --> 0:02:29.036 out any way to get out of it, you know, 0:02:29.076 --> 0:02:33.196 which involved oh, I don't know, talking to the military 0:02:33.196 --> 0:02:35.636 and Stane whether it's assignment could be changed. None of 0:02:35.676 --> 0:02:40.316 it worked. They were well prepared for people who didn't 0:02:40.316 --> 0:02:40.796 want to go. 0:02:41.596 --> 0:02:44.356 The army didn't want to hear Richard's excuses. As a 0:02:44.396 --> 0:02:47.076 newly qualified doctor, he had just the skills that the 0:02:47.076 --> 0:02:52.396 military desperately needed. Richard was one of many American men 0:02:52.436 --> 0:02:54.996 who were plucked from their civilian lives and forced into 0:02:55.036 --> 0:03:02.396 the armed services. September fourteen, zero zero won. There was 0:03:02.436 --> 0:03:05.476 even a televised lottery draw where young men were selected 0:03:05.516 --> 0:03:08.996 from military service and in Vietnam based on their birthday. 0:03:09.356 --> 0:03:12.076 April twenty four is zero zero two. 0:03:12.836 --> 0:03:15.396 Richard was lucky enough to delay his service until after 0:03:15.436 --> 0:03:18.756 his medical training, but arriving in Saigon as a twenty 0:03:18.756 --> 0:03:21.356 something new doctor was still a shock to the system. 0:03:21.716 --> 0:03:25.276 We are in buses where they have this steel mash 0:03:25.436 --> 0:03:29.036 covering the windows, and I'm absolutely sure that any minute 0:03:29.076 --> 0:03:30.836 someone is going to toss a lamb at us. 0:03:31.076 --> 0:03:33.956 But Richard wasn't a trained surgeon heading to Vietnam to 0:03:33.956 --> 0:03:37.516 take care of bullet wounds. He was a psychiatrist, but 0:03:37.596 --> 0:03:42.116 he still wouldn't be treating depression or even PTSD. Richard 0:03:42.196 --> 0:03:44.276 was about to use his training to wage a war 0:03:44.316 --> 0:03:47.876 against bad habits, the kind of behaviors we really want 0:03:47.876 --> 0:03:51.956 to change, but somehow can't. Richard would soon learn that 0:03:51.996 --> 0:03:54.756 our habits don't always work the way we think. His 0:03:54.876 --> 0:03:58.276 findings not only shocked scientists, but also change the way 0:03:58.276 --> 0:04:01.556 that researchers think about the science of behavior change even 0:04:01.636 --> 0:04:05.356 decades later, and his story provides some important hints for 0:04:05.436 --> 0:04:07.756 how we can win our own personal battles with the 0:04:07.796 --> 0:04:13.276 bad habits that her our happiness. Our minds are constantly 0:04:13.276 --> 0:04:15.356 telling us what to do to be happy. But what 0:04:15.396 --> 0:04:17.716 if our minds are wrong? What if our minds are 0:04:17.796 --> 0:04:20.436 lying to us, leading us away from what will really 0:04:20.436 --> 0:04:23.516 make us happy. The good news is that understanding the 0:04:23.556 --> 0:04:25.796 science of the mind can point us all back in 0:04:25.876 --> 0:04:29.116 the right direction. You're listening to the Happiness Lab of 0:04:29.236 --> 0:04:31.436 doctor Laurie Santos. 0:04:35.396 --> 0:04:37.756 You got to have those shoes shined. You got to 0:04:37.796 --> 0:04:40.556 show up at formation. You know, you have to have 0:04:40.636 --> 0:04:41.636 your bed made. 0:04:41.836 --> 0:04:44.796 Richard's soldiers were trapped in Vietnam, far away from home. 0:04:45.516 --> 0:04:48.316 Some were facing life or death situations on the battlefield, 0:04:48.916 --> 0:04:52.556 but according to Richard, the biggest enemy many soldiers faced 0:04:53.036 --> 0:04:57.316 was back in the barracks. It was boredom. Away from combat, 0:04:57.476 --> 0:05:01.596 soldiers spent their days doing repetitive tasks that they didn't enjoy, 0:05:01.796 --> 0:05:06.556 shining boots, dealing with annoying superior officers, and generally just 0:05:06.596 --> 0:05:09.796 not having anything fun to do. And that's why many 0:05:09.836 --> 0:05:12.476 of them wound up turning to a particularly bad habit, 0:05:13.116 --> 0:05:15.196 one that the army really didn't approve of. 0:05:15.716 --> 0:05:17.796 People would just kind of get high, and you know, 0:05:17.956 --> 0:05:21.076 not necessarily that different from if you come home from 0:05:21.116 --> 0:05:23.476 a hard day at the steel mill and you know, 0:05:23.636 --> 0:05:25.556 go into the bar and have a few drinks. It's 0:05:25.596 --> 0:05:27.436 not totally unlike. 0:05:27.156 --> 0:05:29.836 That, yeah, but you know, what was available wasn't a 0:05:29.876 --> 0:05:32.076 few drinks, at least for the soldiers who weren't twenty one. 0:05:32.436 --> 0:05:36.196 What was available was like incredibly hardcore heroine exactly. 0:05:36.916 --> 0:05:41.716 The first phase was where soldiers were smoking marijuana. If 0:05:41.716 --> 0:05:46.036 you're smoking weed, it's not going to take too long 0:05:46.076 --> 0:05:48.196 for it to waft down to where the first sergeants 0:05:48.876 --> 0:05:51.636 Woch was and he'd come up looking for you. 0:05:51.956 --> 0:05:55.556 Conveniently enough, soldiers had access to a less smelly drug option. 0:05:56.476 --> 0:05:59.436 With the Golden Triangle, a massive area of poppy production 0:05:59.716 --> 0:06:02.956 just across the border, suppliers were ready and willing to 0:06:03.036 --> 0:06:06.316 sell an alternative drug to US troops heroin. 0:06:06.796 --> 0:06:10.716 They could do it under the nose of the commanding officers, 0:06:11.156 --> 0:06:13.316 and it was a great deal more potent. 0:06:13.636 --> 0:06:16.156 As one GI addict told The New York Times, the 0:06:16.196 --> 0:06:20.676 skag was everywhere. Estimates very, but it's generally thought that 0:06:20.756 --> 0:06:24.796 around twenty percent of low ranking soldiers used heroin. The 0:06:24.836 --> 0:06:28.836 Times called the addiction rates an epidemic. With hundreds of 0:06:28.916 --> 0:06:32.716 thousands of American troops stationed all over Vietnam, the government 0:06:32.796 --> 0:06:35.556 was worried that gis would return to their families as 0:06:35.556 --> 0:06:36.476 desperate junkies. 0:06:37.116 --> 0:06:40.516 This notion that we had a whole army full of 0:06:40.676 --> 0:06:43.796 drug crazed people who were going to be unleashed on 0:06:43.836 --> 0:06:48.916 these communities truly had people frightened. The Army announced that 0:06:48.956 --> 0:06:54.716 anybody who was dependent on heroin could report to the 0:06:54.876 --> 0:06:59.796 Amnesty Center. They would not be arrested or charged with 0:06:59.916 --> 0:07:03.756 criminal activities. They could come, they could detox and then 0:07:03.796 --> 0:07:06.036 go home. You know, no harm, no foul. 0:07:06.476 --> 0:07:10.116 The American public demanded action, so, without a better plan, 0:07:10.316 --> 0:07:12.956 the Army opted to force the gis to go cold 0:07:12.956 --> 0:07:14.356 turkey when they. 0:07:14.276 --> 0:07:17.236 Came into the detox center. We did not taper them 0:07:17.236 --> 0:07:20.556 off on heroin. I really had no idea, and I 0:07:20.716 --> 0:07:23.436 was sort of frantically trying to get information on how 0:07:23.756 --> 0:07:25.916 does one properly detox somebody. 0:07:26.116 --> 0:07:28.436 But what Richard had even less of an idea about 0:07:28.956 --> 0:07:31.196 was how he was going to help soldiers stay clean 0:07:31.396 --> 0:07:34.516 once they got home. I mean, heroin isn't just any 0:07:34.556 --> 0:07:39.036 old bad habit, It's an incredibly addictive substance. By making 0:07:39.076 --> 0:07:41.996 his soldiers go cold turkey, Richard could help his men 0:07:42.036 --> 0:07:45.036 get through the withdrawal phase, that first step to breaking 0:07:45.116 --> 0:07:48.796 the physical part of their addiction. But the bigger challenge 0:07:48.876 --> 0:07:51.436 was helping them avoid the behavioral parts of their addiction, 0:07:52.196 --> 0:07:54.596 that habit of turning to heroin in order to feel 0:07:54.596 --> 0:07:58.236 better whenever they were feeling depressed or bored or stressed, 0:07:58.916 --> 0:08:01.956 the almost automatic urge to reduce their craving with a 0:08:01.996 --> 0:08:05.076 quick hit. Simply hoping that these men would have the 0:08:05.076 --> 0:08:08.156 willpower to avoid heroin wasn't going to be enough. 0:08:08.476 --> 0:08:12.836 Here we have these guys who are eighteen nineteen, and 0:08:13.436 --> 0:08:15.636 when a little too much pressure is put on them, 0:08:16.316 --> 0:08:16.796 they pop. 0:08:17.316 --> 0:08:19.436 At the time, Richard was worried that there was no 0:08:19.476 --> 0:08:22.036 way to avert this wave of addiction. Sure, the men 0:08:22.076 --> 0:08:24.596 could detox at his center, but no one seemed to 0:08:24.676 --> 0:08:26.516 know what to do to help them and overcome their 0:08:26.516 --> 0:08:32.316 awful habit so that they could become healthier and happier. Now, 0:08:32.356 --> 0:08:34.996 I'm guessing most people listening to this podcast won't ever 0:08:35.036 --> 0:08:38.556 face a behavioral challenge as hard as kicking heroin. But 0:08:38.716 --> 0:08:41.636 like those soldiers, all of us have bad habits that 0:08:41.676 --> 0:08:44.476 detract from our health and happiness. You don't need to 0:08:44.476 --> 0:08:46.916 be an opioid drug user to understand that it can 0:08:46.956 --> 0:08:50.076 be difficult to change are not so good ways, and 0:08:50.116 --> 0:08:52.796 the science suggests that the everyday habits that plague us 0:08:53.196 --> 0:08:55.556 can sometimes be just as hard to overcome as the 0:08:55.596 --> 0:08:59.476 addictive kind. The problem is that the path to happiness 0:08:59.516 --> 0:09:03.276 requires changing a lot of these habitual bad behaviors. We 0:09:03.316 --> 0:09:06.116 need to stop griping, we need to put down our phones, 0:09:06.516 --> 0:09:09.756 and we need to stop craving material possessions. But how 0:09:09.796 --> 0:09:12.836 do we do that? If you're like me, it probably 0:09:12.836 --> 0:09:16.516 feels like changing these repeated behaviors is really really challenging. 0:09:17.556 --> 0:09:20.116 But what our lying minds don't realize is that we 0:09:20.156 --> 0:09:23.236 have a powerful mental tool that really could help us 0:09:23.276 --> 0:09:27.236 achieve lasting behavioral change with ease, if only we understood 0:09:27.396 --> 0:09:32.276 how that tool worked. I wanted to learn more about 0:09:32.396 --> 0:09:36.036 why our intuitions about behavior change were so bad, and 0:09:36.076 --> 0:09:37.556 I knew just the person to ask. 0:09:37.876 --> 0:09:42.276 My name is Wendy Wood. I am Professor of Psychology 0:09:42.316 --> 0:09:45.396 and Business here at the University of Southern California. 0:09:45.516 --> 0:09:47.916 Wendy is the author of a new book, Good Habits, 0:09:47.956 --> 0:09:51.476 Bad Habits, The Science of making positive changes that stick. 0:09:52.076 --> 0:09:56.476 Most of us are very good at understanding what we 0:09:56.596 --> 0:10:00.356 need to do better to be healthier, to be more 0:10:00.436 --> 0:10:05.276 financially stable, to have happier families. Most of us know 0:10:05.396 --> 0:10:06.716 what those things are. 0:10:07.076 --> 0:10:09.596 The problem, according to Wendy, is that most of us 0:10:09.636 --> 0:10:13.956 mistakenly think that changing our behavior requires willpower and hard work. 0:10:14.356 --> 0:10:18.796 I think that we admire willpower and we view it 0:10:19.076 --> 0:10:23.396 as a very positive attribute. The way that the Puritans 0:10:23.396 --> 0:10:26.836 thought they would go to heaven is through self denial 0:10:27.276 --> 0:10:31.796 and showing that they were strong enough to resist temptations. 0:10:32.076 --> 0:10:34.196 But there's a problem with this. Willpower is next to 0:10:34.236 --> 0:10:38.516 godliness notion, and that is that willpower doesn't really work. 0:10:39.076 --> 0:10:44.836 When you exert willpower and control your behavior, what you're 0:10:44.836 --> 0:10:48.996 doing is you are thinking about the thing that you 0:10:49.116 --> 0:10:52.796 don't want to do, and in doing so, you give 0:10:52.836 --> 0:10:58.716 it energy to keep re emerging. So there's a sort 0:10:58.716 --> 0:11:03.716 of a self defeating aspect to willpower that gets in 0:11:03.756 --> 0:11:04.276 our way. 0:11:04.836 --> 0:11:07.596 So if willpower doesn't work, what can we actually do 0:11:07.676 --> 0:11:11.156 to successfully tam our bad habits. The answer is that 0:11:11.196 --> 0:11:13.436 we need to be working smarter, not harder. 0:11:13.916 --> 0:11:20.316 When you observe people when they are being effective at 0:11:20.716 --> 0:11:24.956 controlling their behavior and doing the right thing, say eating 0:11:25.036 --> 0:11:30.076 healthfully or saving money for the future, what they're doing 0:11:30.156 --> 0:11:34.116 is they're not exerting willpower. What people do is they 0:11:34.796 --> 0:11:38.996 set up the situations around them to make it easy 0:11:39.156 --> 0:11:43.716 to repeat the desired behavior, and they repeat it over 0:11:43.756 --> 0:11:47.996 and over so that it becomes automatic. We don't realize 0:11:48.036 --> 0:11:52.516 how much of that we really could harness if we 0:11:52.676 --> 0:11:53.876 just knew how it worked. 0:11:54.396 --> 0:11:56.396 When we get back from the break, we'll do just that. 0:11:57.116 --> 0:11:59.876 We'll take a deep dive into how habits work and 0:11:59.916 --> 0:12:01.956 how you can harness them to behave in ways that 0:12:01.996 --> 0:12:05.876 promote your health and your happiness. The Happiness Lab will 0:12:05.876 --> 0:12:06.556 be right back. 0:12:16.836 --> 0:12:19.676 I get up in the morning, I walk into my 0:12:19.796 --> 0:12:23.636 kitchen and making coffee is the first thing that comes 0:12:23.636 --> 0:12:24.076 to mind. 0:12:24.476 --> 0:12:28.156 Psychologist and behavior change expert Wendy Would knows that engaging 0:12:28.156 --> 0:12:31.396 in routine is the secret to changing our bad behaviors. 0:12:31.836 --> 0:12:34.236 I don't ask myself how to do it. I don't 0:12:34.276 --> 0:12:35.996 need to do that. I've done it so often in 0:12:36.036 --> 0:12:39.596 the past. I don't ask myself whether I want coffee? 0:12:39.916 --> 0:12:42.556 Am I really tired this morning? Do I need coffee? 0:12:42.796 --> 0:12:45.756 I don't ask those questions. I just do it, and 0:12:45.796 --> 0:12:50.276 then in the end I get the reward of repeating 0:12:50.316 --> 0:12:52.436 what I've done in the past, which is that great 0:12:52.436 --> 0:12:56.396 cup of coffee. And that's how people who are really 0:12:56.476 --> 0:12:59.636 successful at meeting their goals, that's how they do it. 0:13:00.036 --> 0:13:04.036 Wendy's morning coffee making illustrates a willpower free strategy that 0:13:04.156 --> 0:13:06.316 all of us can use to change our behavior for 0:13:06.396 --> 0:13:08.996 the better. It's called habit formation. 0:13:09.636 --> 0:13:15.876 Habits are just the behaviors we repeat until they become 0:13:16.116 --> 0:13:21.316 sort of mental shortcuts. There's shortcuts about what you can 0:13:21.476 --> 0:13:25.276 do that's likely to get you the same reward as 0:13:25.356 --> 0:13:26.436 you got in the past. 0:13:27.436 --> 0:13:30.476 Habits canform for any repeated behavior that gets us a reward, 0:13:31.036 --> 0:13:33.556 whether that reward is ultimately good for us, like a 0:13:33.636 --> 0:13:36.236 nice cup of coffee in the morning, or bad for us, 0:13:36.636 --> 0:13:39.916 like a shot of heroin. But Wendy's work has shown 0:13:39.996 --> 0:13:43.276 the good habits and bad habits work exactly the same way. 0:13:44.076 --> 0:13:47.476 They have a very particular structure, one that involves three 0:13:47.516 --> 0:13:51.596 critical parts. The first critical part of habit formation is 0:13:51.636 --> 0:13:52.196 the reward. 0:13:52.676 --> 0:13:57.036 Rewards here are just behaviors that meet your goals, behaviors 0:13:57.036 --> 0:14:03.276 that make you feel good, behaviors that achieve some outcome 0:14:03.476 --> 0:14:05.036 that you're looking for. 0:14:05.036 --> 0:14:07.956 For morning, Wendy, that reward was having the positive taste 0:14:07.996 --> 0:14:10.876 of a nice cup of coffee. But habit formation can 0:14:10.876 --> 0:14:14.316 involve lots of other kinds of rewards too. The endorphins 0:14:14.316 --> 0:14:17.636 that kick in after a good exercise session, the reduced 0:14:17.676 --> 0:14:20.236 boredom we feel after we do a quick social media check, 0:14:20.876 --> 0:14:23.476 or the satisfaction you get learning something new from your 0:14:23.516 --> 0:14:27.196 favorite podcast. Anything that feels nice or meets a goal 0:14:27.476 --> 0:14:30.036 can serve as a reward that leads to a new habit. 0:14:30.836 --> 0:14:33.516 But habits not only require a reward at the end. 0:14:34.076 --> 0:14:38.076 They also have a second critical component, the routine. A 0:14:38.156 --> 0:14:41.236 routine is the specific sequence of actions that gets us 0:14:41.276 --> 0:14:45.196 to a reward. For Wendy's caffeine habit, that might be 0:14:45.316 --> 0:14:48.316 each step she takes to make her morning coffee. If 0:14:48.316 --> 0:14:51.036 you're a yoga lover like me, your routine might involve 0:14:51.036 --> 0:14:54.556 grabbing your mat and driving to your favorite studio. The 0:14:54.596 --> 0:14:57.916 science shows that having a specific routine is critical to 0:14:57.916 --> 0:15:01.596 habit formation, in part because our minds care about them 0:15:01.636 --> 0:15:05.716 a lot. In fact, when your brain experience is something wonderful, 0:15:06.036 --> 0:15:09.476 it drops everything to remember the exact sequence of whatever 0:15:09.516 --> 0:15:12.196 you just did to get that reward, and when it 0:15:12.276 --> 0:15:15.196 lays down a new memory of that sequence, it definitely 0:15:15.276 --> 0:15:17.876 doesn't want to screw anything up, and so it doesn't 0:15:17.916 --> 0:15:20.196 just remember what you did as a bunch of individual 0:15:20.236 --> 0:15:24.356 action steps. Instead, it stores your whole sequence of behaviors 0:15:24.596 --> 0:15:29.716 as a single solitary routine, what researchers call chunking. It 0:15:29.796 --> 0:15:32.676 even uses a totally different neural system to do so. 0:15:33.516 --> 0:15:37.276 When you're repeating a task that you have practiced many 0:15:37.316 --> 0:15:41.276 times in the past, you are relying on something called 0:15:41.556 --> 0:15:46.796 the sensorymotor system, which involves the protament, which is part 0:15:46.796 --> 0:15:51.156 of the basic anglia, and when you start a new task, 0:15:51.796 --> 0:15:56.716 in contrast, using much more of the frontal lobes, because 0:15:56.756 --> 0:16:00.716 those are the active thinking parts of your brain. And 0:16:00.796 --> 0:16:04.556 these two things are definitely connected, but they also function 0:16:04.676 --> 0:16:06.596 somewhat independent line. 0:16:06.596 --> 0:16:10.156 And that's why habits are such fantastic mental shortcut because 0:16:10.156 --> 0:16:12.596 we don't need our conscious thinking frontal lobes to remember 0:16:12.636 --> 0:16:16.876 each individual action. Whenever we want a reward, the unconscious 0:16:16.876 --> 0:16:19.236 bits of our brain can just hit go and our 0:16:19.276 --> 0:16:22.076 minds get the entire perfectly stored routine for. 0:16:22.076 --> 0:16:28.996 Free driving is the prototypic habo. It's something we have 0:16:29.316 --> 0:16:32.956 to think about when we first learn to do it, 0:16:33.796 --> 0:16:39.476 but then over time that thought becomes less and less necessary, 0:16:40.116 --> 0:16:43.876 and we start just responding automatically based on what we 0:16:43.956 --> 0:16:48.476 did in the past, and that achieves the goal of 0:16:48.596 --> 0:16:51.836 getting us somewhere we want to go, and it does 0:16:51.876 --> 0:16:54.716 so efficiently and quickly most of the time, unless you 0:16:54.756 --> 0:16:57.836 live in la and then there's nothing efficient about driving. 0:16:58.036 --> 0:16:59.916 I want to focus in on this lack of awareness 0:16:59.916 --> 0:17:02.516 for a second because it's really weird when you think 0:17:02.556 --> 0:17:05.956 about it. I mean, our driving routine involves tracking lots 0:17:05.956 --> 0:17:09.276 of complicated stuff, from where your right foot is to 0:17:09.316 --> 0:17:11.636 how fast your car is going, to whether there are 0:17:11.676 --> 0:17:14.476 pedestrians about to cross the street, to where other cars 0:17:14.516 --> 0:17:17.316 are moving, to when a traffic light might change, to 0:17:17.356 --> 0:17:19.516 when you need to click your turn signal, and to 0:17:19.556 --> 0:17:21.836 whether you have your radio set to your favorite podcast. 0:17:22.716 --> 0:17:25.276 It's amazing that we can juggle all that information at all, 0:17:25.796 --> 0:17:28.796 let alone that we can do so easily and unconsciously. 0:17:29.676 --> 0:17:33.396 But that is the amazing psychological power of habits. Once 0:17:33.436 --> 0:17:35.556 we form a new habit, we get to engage in 0:17:35.636 --> 0:17:39.596 all kinds of complicated behaviors without a moment's thought. And 0:17:39.636 --> 0:17:42.236 that's why habits are so much more effective than willpower 0:17:42.276 --> 0:17:45.356 for changing our behaviors. Once we make the things we 0:17:45.436 --> 0:17:48.516 want to do habitual, they don't require any more work. 0:17:49.356 --> 0:17:52.036 The problem, though, is that not all of our unconscious 0:17:52.036 --> 0:17:53.956 habitual behaviors are good for us. 0:17:54.636 --> 0:17:57.916 So sitting on the couch when you get home at 0:17:58.036 --> 0:18:01.996 night and eating potato chips that's just as much of 0:18:02.036 --> 0:18:05.916 a habit as going home and then just heading out 0:18:05.956 --> 0:18:10.716 to the gym. One looks habitual and star structured to us, 0:18:10.916 --> 0:18:13.676 and the other might look sort of a bit lazier, 0:18:14.276 --> 0:18:16.836 but they're both habits in the same way. 0:18:17.556 --> 0:18:20.476 Sadly, those lazier, not so good for us routines are 0:18:20.636 --> 0:18:23.556 just as automatic as our positive habits, which means that 0:18:23.596 --> 0:18:26.956 our bad habits, the ones that inhibit our happiness, are 0:18:27.036 --> 0:18:29.876 really really hard to shed. We might want to shut 0:18:29.876 --> 0:18:32.756 those habits off, but we can't because our minds are 0:18:32.756 --> 0:18:36.996 on autopilot, but Wendy's work shows that we do have 0:18:37.116 --> 0:18:40.076 some control over when our habit routines get turned on 0:18:40.916 --> 0:18:43.756 whether our minds unconsciously decide to execute that sit on 0:18:43.796 --> 0:18:46.156 the couch and munch behavior or the throw on our 0:18:46.196 --> 0:18:50.076 gym closed one. The answer comes from the third critical 0:18:50.076 --> 0:18:54.156 part of our habit loops, the context. The context is 0:18:54.236 --> 0:18:57.516 any part of our situation or environment that cues our behavior. 0:18:58.316 --> 0:19:01.596 For Wendy's coffee habit, the context was a location, being 0:19:01.596 --> 0:19:04.596 in her kitchen and a time of day it was morning, 0:19:05.276 --> 0:19:08.716 and a preceding event she had just woken up. For 0:19:08.796 --> 0:19:12.156 Richard Heroin addicts, the context might be their barracks, or 0:19:12.196 --> 0:19:15.036 the site of other gis using drugs, or just being 0:19:15.076 --> 0:19:15.916 in Vietnam. 0:19:16.156 --> 0:19:20.236 In our research, we've found that context can be pretty 0:19:20.276 --> 0:19:24.036 much everything around you that's not you. It can be 0:19:24.116 --> 0:19:28.276 the people that you're with. There are certain people who 0:19:28.796 --> 0:19:33.836 trigger certain behaviors that we've done with them in the past. 0:19:34.236 --> 0:19:37.476 You may have friends that you typically go and have 0:19:37.516 --> 0:19:40.476 a drink with, and if you see them again, that's 0:19:40.516 --> 0:19:44.116 what tends to come to mind. The moods we're in 0:19:44.756 --> 0:19:49.316 can also be triggers, so I think that one of 0:19:49.356 --> 0:19:54.876 the most common triggers for checking your cell phone is 0:19:54.916 --> 0:19:58.636 being bored. Even if you're in a meeting and it's 0:19:58.716 --> 0:20:02.276 quite rude, you may find yourself checking your phone. You 0:20:02.276 --> 0:20:04.796 don't want to be rude, but the idea of your 0:20:04.796 --> 0:20:07.076 phone just comes to mind when you're bored. 0:20:07.356 --> 0:20:10.396 When our brains notice a context that's associated with the habit, 0:20:10.916 --> 0:20:13.276 one that goes with a particular routine and a certain 0:20:13.356 --> 0:20:16.436 kind of reward, we get an incredibly strong urge to 0:20:16.516 --> 0:20:19.996 execute the habitual behavior, even if it's a behavior that's 0:20:20.036 --> 0:20:24.436 no longer useful or relevant. In fact, Wendy's work has 0:20:24.476 --> 0:20:27.876 shown that cues can elicit habitual behavior even when the 0:20:27.916 --> 0:20:31.916 rewards from those behaviors aren't even there anymore. She tested 0:20:31.956 --> 0:20:34.956 this out in a clever study involving movie trailer screenings. 0:20:35.956 --> 0:20:38.476 One group of subjects watched the movie trailers on a 0:20:38.476 --> 0:20:42.436 computer in Wendy's lab, just like a typical study, but 0:20:42.516 --> 0:20:45.116 a second group of subjects got to watch the trailers 0:20:45.196 --> 0:20:49.316 inside a movie theater. Wendy was interested in whether the 0:20:49.316 --> 0:20:52.636 movie theater cues spurred on a habitual movie going behavior, 0:20:53.116 --> 0:20:56.156 popcorn eating, but she also wanted to know whether her 0:20:56.196 --> 0:20:59.556 subjects would engage in that habitual behavior even when it 0:20:59.596 --> 0:21:02.956 was no longer rewarded to do that. She varied the 0:21:02.956 --> 0:21:04.756 deliciousness of the popcorn she offered. 0:21:05.716 --> 0:21:09.036 Some people got popcorn that was stale, and it was 0:21:09.356 --> 0:21:13.316 really stale, so it had been sitting in our lab 0:21:13.436 --> 0:21:16.516 for a week in a plastic bag. It was pretty gross. 0:21:17.116 --> 0:21:20.756 Others got popcorn that was fresh that had just been pomped. 0:21:21.476 --> 0:21:23.316 Very few people who watched the film in the lab 0:21:23.476 --> 0:21:26.276 ate the gross popcorn. They didn't have any cues that 0:21:26.316 --> 0:21:30.116 pushed them to engage in an otherwise yucky behavior. But 0:21:30.196 --> 0:21:32.956 what happened to the subjects who experienced all the normal 0:21:32.996 --> 0:21:36.836 cues of being inside a cinema, Well, it depended on 0:21:36.876 --> 0:21:39.236 how they normally acted when watching movies. 0:21:39.716 --> 0:21:43.316 People who had habits to eat popcorn in the movie 0:21:43.396 --> 0:21:48.236 cinema ate just about the same amount of stale popcorn 0:21:48.236 --> 0:21:51.836 as fresh. They could tell us when we asked them 0:21:51.876 --> 0:21:55.516 that they hated the stale popcorn. They ate it anyway. 0:21:56.036 --> 0:22:00.476 People who didn't have habits deep popcorn in the movie cinema, 0:22:00.556 --> 0:22:04.236 they did just what you'd expect, but rationally we think 0:22:04.276 --> 0:22:06.996 we would all do, which is eat the fresh popcorn, 0:22:07.476 --> 0:22:09.876 but if they got a bag of stale, just lave it. 0:22:10.316 --> 0:22:12.716 When our brains see a cue that's been associated with 0:22:12.716 --> 0:22:16.716 the habitual behavior, we can't help but execute that behavior, 0:22:17.316 --> 0:22:21.156 even when the behavior is no longer rewarding. But despite 0:22:21.156 --> 0:22:23.956 the power of these cues, Wendy has found that we 0:22:23.996 --> 0:22:27.956 don't often realize how much context affects our behavior, and 0:22:27.996 --> 0:22:30.596 that means we often forget that we can't count on 0:22:30.636 --> 0:22:34.476 our habitual routines once the cues go away, and Wendy 0:22:34.516 --> 0:22:38.156 has seen the negative effects of removing our habitual cues firsthand. 0:22:38.836 --> 0:22:42.316 I bought a new car a few years ago that 0:22:42.476 --> 0:22:45.396 has all kinds of wonderful safety sensors, so it beeps 0:22:45.436 --> 0:22:49.116 when I get close to an obstacle, and I hated 0:22:49.156 --> 0:22:51.716 that at first. It really irritated me because I wasn't 0:22:51.796 --> 0:22:56.916 used to it, But I started responding to those signals automaticly. 0:22:57.316 --> 0:23:00.756 Over time, you just stop noticing them. When the car beeps, 0:23:00.796 --> 0:23:04.676 you just automatically respond to it. And I didn't realize 0:23:04.756 --> 0:23:07.916 how automatic that had become, how much of my driving 0:23:07.996 --> 0:23:11.996 habit that had become, until I rented a car and 0:23:12.076 --> 0:23:17.276 it didn't have that warning sensor system, and the first 0:23:17.276 --> 0:23:19.156 thing I did is I backed into a brick wall. 0:23:21.556 --> 0:23:23.356 The Happiness Lab will be right back. 0:23:31.036 --> 0:23:37.596 I am a Vietnam veteran, a ex marine medic, and 0:23:37.636 --> 0:23:38.796 an ex morphine addic. 0:23:39.836 --> 0:23:43.436 Back in nineteen seventy one, a documentary called GI Junkie 0:23:43.676 --> 0:23:46.436 followed a group of returning soldiers going through rehab. 0:23:46.716 --> 0:23:50.036