Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to understand the control of excessive habitual behaviors in ways that will be new and in some instances unsettling to many readers. It explores a strategic resource for self-control, namely the variable presence of physical or social forces that strongly constrain behavioral decisions. The book explains how the achievement of objectives depends on the development of self-control, which is measurably affected by variations in the environmental arrangements that train and shape it. It shows how a personal history of exposure to informal rules within particular social groups influences individual behavior. The book describes formal laws and associated sanctions may affect use quite differently from informal rules. It focuses on the behavior of simpler creatures — rats, pigeons, and monkeys — in highly controlled laboratory experiments where these animals consistently repeat easily recorded responses: pecking on keys, and pressing levers.