ABSTRACT
We seldom do things for the first time. Most of our everyday behaviors are recurrences or variants of behaviors we have previously executed, most of which numerous times. The frequency of occurrence and the stability of behavior were central themes in the behaviorist tradition (e.g., Hull, 1943), and James (1890) already devoted an intriguing chapter about habit in his famous The Principles of Psychology. Although social psychologists never lost sight of the behavioral side of human functioning, the repetitive aspect of behavior has only received minimal attention in social psychology. In the decision-making area, it seems that repetition of choices has almost been neglected or has been studied in specific contexts such as decision making by experts (e.g., Shanteau, Friel, Thomas, & Raacke, chap. 14, this volume). However, given the prevalence of repeated over new behavior, there is good reason to pay more systematic attention to constructs like past behavior, repetitive choices, experience, routines, and habit. This chapter focuses on habits and addresses in particular the issue of the measurement of habit strength. We first discuss the habit construct in more detail and give a brief summary of some work that has been done on habits. We then review four instruments to measure habit strength. Finally, a study is presented in which these measures were used simultaneously.
