Getting healthy: When does prediction help people change their habits?
2011-03-18
(Press-News.org) If you ask people how much they plan to exercise, they'll exercise more—but only if that's a personal goal, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.
"When people have set for themselves targets about how much they should engage in a behavior (say, if the behavior is how much to exercise per week), asking them to predict whether they will exercise in the next week makes them think about what they think they should do," write authors Pierre Chandon (INSEAD), Ronn J. Smith (University of Arkansas), Vicki G. Morwitz (New York University), Eric R. Spangenberg, and David E. Sprott (both Washington State University). "This reduces the chances that they will simply repeat their past behavior and hence breaks their habits."
The researchers also confirmed that we are creatures of habit: When people did not have strong personal goals for how much they should engage in a particular behavior (like watching the news), asking them to predict how much they would watch the news resulted in strengthening their existing habits.
The researchers discovered the pattern across a number of different behaviors among participants in the United States and France. "We asked a group of people to predict whether or not they would engage in a particular behavior in the next week or month and did not ask the same question to a control group," the authors explain. "To measure habits, we collected data about behavior frequency and duration both before and after the time of the behavior prediction question."
In one experiment, the authors asked college students to predict whether they would read books or watch the news in the next week. "Compared to a control group, students asked to predict their behavior were more likely to repeat what they had done in the week before," the authors explain. "However, the same question disrupted habits for exercising, a behavior for which our participants held strong personal norms." Asking about future exercising led to an estimated 94 additional minutes of exercising (+ 138 percent) for students who had only exercised for 10 minutes in the week before.
"These findings have important implications, not only for those of us who are attempting to keep our New Year's resolutions, but also for managers or policy makers attempting to reinforce valuable habits and to disrupt harmful ones," the authors conclude.
###
Pierre Chandon, Ronn J. Smith, Vicki G. Morwitz, Eric R. Spangenberg, and David E. Sprott. "When Does the Past Repeat Itself? The Interplay of Behavior Prediction and Personal Norms." Journal of Consumer Research: October 2011. Further
information: http://ejcr.org.
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2011-03-18
People who make an effort to exert self-control are attracted to aggressive art and public policy appeals, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. They also don't appreciate messages that nag them to control their behavior.
"We set out to examine whether exerting self-control can indeed lead to a wide range of angry behaviors and preferences subsequently, even in situations where such behaviors are quite subtle," write authors David Gal (Northwestern University) and Wendy Liu (University of California San Diego).
"Research has shown that exerting ...
2011-03-18
San Diego, Calif., USA – Today, during the 89th General Session & Exhibition of the International Association for Dental Research, held in conjunction with the 40th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental Research and the 35th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research, lead researcher Z. Zhang will hold an oral presentation on a study titled "Fuz is Essential for Craniofacial and Tooth Development." Fuz has been identified as a planar cell polarity effector gene and shown to be involved in ciliogenesis.
The objective of this study was ...
2011-03-18
New Rochelle, NY, March 17, 2011—Simulated interactions in which adults with autism converse with a virtual partner may help them develop better social interaction skills, according to a novel study presented in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com). The article is available free online at http://www.liebertpub.com/cyber
More than half of individuals diagnosed with autism have normal intellectual capabilities yet struggle in social and work environments because of their severely ...
2011-03-18
Even if you have a grasp on your own abilities, you might have trouble estimating the abilities of others, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. These false impressions affect people's product choices.
"We've known that people overestimate their relative ability for seemingly easy tasks, like driving, and underestimate for difficult tasks," write authors Andrew D. Gershoff (University of Texas at Austin) and Katherine A. Burson (University of Michigan). The researchers found that people tend to think others are fairly evenly spread out in their ...
2011-03-18
Colorectal cancer cells trigger a set of genes similar to those found in intestinal stem cells, scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) have found. The team of researchers, led by ICREA researcher Eduard Batlle, propose that patients with colorectal cancer undergo genetic tests of their intestinal epithelium in order to predict a higher risk of relapse. The results of the study, published online this week in Cell Stem Cell, offer new possibilities for diagnosing and treating the disease.
Colon cancer is the second cause of death by cancer ...
2011-03-18
The American Thoracic Society has released new official clinical guidelines on the diagnosis and management of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The statement replaces ATS guidelines published in 2000, and reviews current knowledge in the epidemiology, etiology, diagnosis and management of IPF, as well as available treatment options, including pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic therapies and palliative care.
The statement appears in the March 15, 2011, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
IPF is a chronic, progressive, fatal form of fibrotic ...
2011-03-18
Signing your name on the dotted line heightens your sense of self and leads to purchase behavior that affirms your self-identity, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. But signing can reduce engagement in consumers who don't identify strongly with a product or category.
"Although there are numerous ways in which people may present their identity to others, signing one's name has distinct legal, social, and economic implications," write authors Keri L. Kettle and Gerald Häubl (University of Alberta). The act of signing also has implications in the ...
2011-03-18
San Diego, Calif., USA – Today, during the 89th General Session & Exhibition of the International Association for Dental Research, held in conjunction with the 40th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental Research and the 35th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research, lead researcher V. Qvist will hold an oral presentation on a research study titled "Sealing Manifest Occlusal Caries in Permanent Teeth - 2½-year Results."
This research was performed under the objective of investigating the possibility of non-operative sealing of manifest ...
2011-03-18
A University of York scientist is proposing a radical programme of 'assisted colonisation' to save species endangered by climate change.
Chris Thomas, Professor of Conservation Biology, says the strategy is applicable across the world, and he suggests Britain as a potential haven for species such as the Iberian lynx, the Spanish Imperial Eagle, the Pyrenean Desman and the Provence Chalkhill Blue butterfly.
In an opinion paper in Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Professor Thomas, of the University's Department of Biology, says that moving endangered species is the only ...
2011-03-18
If you're considering a purchase, you might want to avoid asking an expert's advice. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, experts have a hard time recalling product features—especially if they feel they need to explain their logic.
"People tend to assume that knowledge is always a good thing, but our research suggests that in some cases this may not be true," write authors Ravi Mehta (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), JoAndrea Hoegg (University of British Columbia), and Amitav Chakravarti (New York University).
The researchers evaluated ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Getting healthy: When does prediction help people change their habits?
