Habit and the intention-behaviour relationship within the Theory of Planned Behaviour: Implications for information based interventions

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Habit and the intention-behaviour relationship
within the Theory of Planned Behaviour
Implications for information based interventions

• By Erica Thomas

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Hypothetical relationships between physical
activity and health in children and adults

• Childhood Childhood
• activity health
• Adult Adult
• Activity health

From Blair, Clark, Cureton and Powell (1989)
3
Theory of Planned Behaviour
Adapted from Ajzen (2006)
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A meta-analytic review of the Theory of Planned
Behaviour in physical activity (Hagger,
Chatzisarantis Biddle, 2002)

• Correlation between physical activity intentions
  and behaviour is modest rc .426.
• Overall the TPB accounted for 44.5 of the
  variance in physical activity intentions and only
  27.4 of the variance in physical activity
  behaviour.
• Put another way 55.5 of the variance in physical
  activity intentions and 72.6 of the variance in
  physical activity behaviour is explained by
  factors other than those posited within the TPB.

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Path analysis diagram showing structural
relationships between the TPB variables,
self-efficacy and past behaviour
Attitude
.20
Subjective Norm
.09
.05
Intention
Behaviour
.28
.22
PBC
.15
.55
.37
Self-Efficacy
.04
Corrected correlations derived by meta-analysis
Past Behaviour
Adapted from Hagger, Chatzisarantis and Biddle
(2002)
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Simple slope analysis illustrating how the
intention-behaviour relationship varies as a
function of habit strength
ß -.09, P gt .05
ß .09, P gt .05
ß .26, P lt .003
From Verplanken et al. (1998)
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Is there really a link between frequency of past
behaviour and the habitual level of that
behaviour?

• A high frequency of behaviour does not
  necessarily imply the existence of a strong habit
  e.g. an athlete may run a marathon frequently,
  but this can hardly be qualified as a habit!
• Equating frequency with habit implies the absurd
  consequence that habit strength keeps increasing
  with increasing frequency.
• Habit has been shown to vary independently of
  behavioural frequency e.g. Verplanken (2006).

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• Habits
• Are learned sequences of acts that have become
  automatic responses to specific cues and are
  functional in obtaining certain end goals or
  states
• (Verplanken Aarts, 1999, p.104)

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Conceptualization and characteristics of habit

• Barghs (1994) four features of automaticity
• Awareness
• Habits most often occur outside of awareness
• Controllability
• Habits can be difficult to control (but not
  impossible)
• Mental efficiency
• Habits are mentally efficient
• Intentionality
• Habits are intentional in the sense of being goal
  directed (Aarts Dijksterhuis, 2000)

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Conceptualization and characteristics of habit

• Environment-behaviour link
• Habit formation involves the creation of
  associations in memory between actions and stable
  features of the context in which they are
  performed.
• Habits can be triggered by environmental cues,
  internal states and by the presence of typical
  interaction partners.
• Once these links have been formed via associative
  learning, merely perceiving a context triggers
  associated responses.
• Habits develop by the systematic experience of
  rewarding consequences.
• The rewarding properties of habits make them
  functional from the perspective of the individual
  who develops them.
• Thus habits are wanted in achieving some goal.

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Implications for information based interventions

• Interventions based on the TPB generally use
  informational strategies to promote behaviour
  change However strong habits are associated with
  attenuated relations between intentions and
  behaviour.
• Given these consequences of habituation, the
  presence of a strong habit poses a
  contraindication to the use of informational
  techniques (Verplanken Melkevik, 2008).
• Webb Sheeran (2006) provide striking evidence
  in support of this idea.
• Providing information will only result in
  attitudinal change if one is likely to pay
  attention to new information (Chaiken, 1980,
  1987) yet strong habits are associated with a
  lack of interest for new information (Verlpanken
  et al., 1997) and information use that is biased
  toward maintaining the existing habit (Betsch et
  al., 2001).

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Implications for information based interventions

• Frequency, automaticity and functionality make
  habits strong durable structures.
• The prospects for interventions that consist of
  providing information and aim at changing
  attitudes is particularly grim when the target
  behaviour is habitual.
• The dependence of habits on environmental cues
  represents an important point of vulnerability.

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• Frequency of students exercise behaviour after
  moving to a new University

Frequency of exercising
Adapted from Wood, Tam and Guerrero Witt (2005)
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Recommendations

• Information based interventions may be more
  successful if they target individuals when they
  are undergoing naturally occurring shifts in the
  performance environment (Verplanken Wood,
  2006). E.g. when moving to a new location.
• Public policy should be orientated towards
  structural changes in the performance environment
  itself, e.g. by providing cycle paths to
  encourage cycling as a form of exercise.
• To the extent that large scale environmental
  interventions alter critical features of the
  performance environment they are likely to be
  successful at disrupting unwanted habits.
• New performance environments can provide a stable
  context to foster the creation and maintenance of
  more desirable habits. (Verplanken Wood, 2006).

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Summary and Conclusions

• Understanding habit is important to public policy
  concerning healthful living.
• Behaviour changes strategies are most likely to
  be successful when they are tailored to the
  habit strength of the target behaviour
  (Verplanken Wood, 2006).
• Everyday actions that are not habitual are open
  to information based interventions which are
  designed educate people and motivate them to
  change.
• Strong habits perpetuate prior behaviours and
  limit the effectiveness of information based
  interventions (Verplanken Wood, 2006).

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Summary and Conclusions

• The expectations for certain environmental and
  behavioural events that develop with habit
  formation lead to a kind of tunnel vision that
  shields behaviour from change through new
  information.
• Even when consumers become convinced of the
  advisability of habit change, they are likely to
  continue to perform any given behaviour as long
  as it is automatically cued by stable features of
  the performance environment.
• The dependence of habit on environmental cues
  renders them vulnerable to intervention
  strategies that involve changes in those cues
  (Verplanken Wood, 2006).
• Interventions to promote physical activity in
  children should adopt habituation as an
  intervention goal.

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References

• Aarts, H., Dijksterhuis, A. (2000). The
  automatic activation of goal directed behaviour
  The case of
• travel habit. Journal of Environmental
  Psychology, 20, 75-82.
• Ajzen, I. (2006). Constructing a TPB
  questionnaire Conceptual and methodological
  considerations.
• Retrieved 10th April from http//www.people.umass.
  edu/aizen/pdf/tpb.measurement.pdf
• Bargh, J.A. (1994). The four horsemen of
  automaticity Awareness, intention, efficiency
  and control in
• social cognition. In R.S. Wyer and T.K. Srull
  (Eds), Handbook of Social Cognition (Vol. 1).
  Hillsdale, NJ Erlbaum.
• Betsch, T.A., Haberstroh, S., Glöckner, A., Haar,
  T. and Fiedler, K. (2001). The effects of routine
  
• strength on adaptation and information search in
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• and Human Decision Processes, 84, 23 - 53.
• Blair, S.N., Clark, D.G., Cureton, K.J. and
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• Implications for a lifetime of health. In
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  Vol.2 Youth
• Exercise and Sport (edited by C.V. Gisolfi and
  D.R. Lamb), pp.401 -
• 430. New York McGraw-Hill.
• Chaiken, S. (1980). Heuristic versus systematic
  information processing and the use of source
  versus

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• Hagger, M. S., Chatzisarantis, N. L. D.,
  Biddle, S. J. H. (2002). A meta-analytic review
  of the Theories
• of Reasoned Action and Planned Behaviour in
  physical activity Predictive validity and the
  contribution of
• additional variables. Journal of Sport Exercise
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• Verplanken, B. (2006). Beyond frequency Habit as
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• Psychology, 45, 639 656.
• Verplanken, B. and Aarts, H. (1999). Habit,
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• or an interesting case of goal-directed
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• Verplanken, B., Aarts, H., Van Knippenberg, A.
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• Verplanken, B., Aarts, H., Van Knippenberg, A.
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• Verplanken, B. and Melkevik, O. (2008).
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