Instant habits versus flexible tenacity: do implementation intentions accelerate habit formation?

T. van Timmeren, S. de Wit

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Implementation intentions (strategic "if-then" plans) have been shown to support behaviour change. This may be achieved by mentally forming stimulus-response associations, thereby promoting habit formation. Does this deliberate attempt to instal "strategic automaticity" only offer advantages, or does it also come at the cost of reduced flexibility that characterises learnt habits? To investigate this, we tested healthy, young participants on a computerised instrumental learning task. Critically, we introduced implementation intentions ("if I see stimulus X, then I will respond") versus goal intentions ("for outcome Z, I will respond)" during instrumental acquisition, and subsequently assessed behavioural flexibility in an outcome-revaluation test. In Experiment 1, we conducted a between-subjects manipulation of strategic planning, and in Experiment 2, a within-subject manipulation. We hypothesised that implementation intentions would lead to strong stimulus-response associations and consequently impair performance when the signalled outcome value changed and therefore required a different response, while benefitting performance when the outcome value (and required response) remained the same. We found that implementation intentions supported instrumental learning, but impaired test performance overall (most robustly in Experiment 2), irrespective of whether the signalled outcome value had changed. We argue that this general detrimental effect of implementation intentions on test performance is likely a consequence of their negative effect on stimulus-outcome learning. Our findings warrant caution when applying if-then plans to situations where the agent does not already possess perfect knowledge of behavioural contingencies.While implementation intentions may support efficient and fast behavioural execution, this may come at the expense of behavioural flexibility.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2479-2492
Number of pages14
JournalQuarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Volume76
Issue number11
Early online date2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Experimental Psychology Society 2022.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by a VIDI grant awarded to S.d.W. by the Dutch Research Council (“Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek” [NWO] [grant number: 016.145.382]).

FundersFunder number
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek016.145.382

    Keywords

    • Implementation intention
    • goal-directed action
    • habit
    • instrumental learning
    • outcome devaluation
    • strategic planning

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