Framework · Bas Verplanken, Wendy Wood and colleagues

Habit discontinuity

When life circumstances change, old habits are disrupted, creating a window where intentions guide behaviour more and new habits can form.

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When life circumstances change, old habits are disrupted, creating a window where intentions guide behaviour more and new habits can form.

How to use it with a real habit

• Plan habits around moves, new jobs and new terms.
• Protect good habits through transitions.
• Watch for unwanted habits forming in new places.

What the evidence says

Research-supported: Good studies support it, but there are fewer of them, the effects are modest, or they come from a narrow set of situations.

Supported by field studies of students changing universities and people moving home.

Limits

• Big changes also bring stress, which can make new habits harder.

Sources

• Verplanken & Roy (2016). Empowering interventions to promote sustainable lifestyles: Testing the habit discontinuity hypothesis in a field experiment. Journal of Environmental Psychology. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.11.008
• Wood, Tam & Witt (2005). Changing circumstances, disrupting habits. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.88.6.918