The DOI matches its Crossref record; 162 of the 162 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A review and analysis of the use of ‘habit’ in understanding, predicting and influencing health-related behaviour
Open accessAbstract
The term 'habit' is widely used to predict and explain behaviour. This paper examines use of the term in the context of health-related behaviour, and explores how the concept might be made more useful. A narrative review is presented, drawing on a scoping review of 136 empirical studies and 8 literature reviews undertaken to document usage of the term 'habit', and methods to measure it. A coherent definition of 'habit', and proposals for improved methods for studying it, were derived from findings. Definitions of 'habit' have varied in ways that are often implicit and not coherently linked with an underlying theory. A definition is proposed whereby habit is a process by which a stimulus generates an impulse to act as a result of a learned stimulus-response association. Habit-generated impulses may compete or combine with impulses and inhibitions arising from other sources, including conscious decision-making, to influence responses, and need not generate behaviour. Most research on habit is based on correlational studies using self-report measures. Adopting a coherent definition of 'habit', and a wider range of paradigms, designs and measures to study it, may accelerate progress in habit theory and application.
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Metadata
- Authors
- Gardner, B.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Gardner, Benjamin
- ORCID
- Gardner, Benjamin
- Venue
- Health Psychology Review
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2014-01-21
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 277-295
- ISSN
- 1743-7199 (ISSN-L)
- 1743-7202
- PMC
- PMC4566897
- OpenAlex
- W2039701560
- Cited by
- 1,016
- References
- 162
- Citations by year
- 2026: 87 · 2025: 93 · 2024: 101 · 2023: 97 · 2022: 109 · 2021: 98 · 2020: 158 · 2019: 79 · 2018: 65 · 2017: 51 · 2016: 36 · 2015: 27 · 2014: 13
- FWCI
- 3.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Health Psychology Review (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Smoking Behavior and Cessation
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
- Keywords
- habit, health behavior, habit theory, stimulus-response associations, impulse generation, conscious decision-making, habit measurement, self-report measures, behavior change
- MeSH terms
- Habits, Humans, Social Behavior, Health Behavior, Self Report
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