Habit Discontinuity, Self-Activation, and the Diminishing Influence of Context Change: Evidence from the UK Understanding Society Survey.
Repeated behaviours in stable contexts can become automatic habits. Habits are resistant to information-based techniques to change behaviour, but are contextually cued, so a change in behaviour context (e.g., location) weakens habit strength and can facilitate greater consideration of the behaviour. This idea was demonstrated in previous work, whereby people with strong environmental attitudes have lower car use, but only after recently moving home. We examine the habit discontinuity hypothesis by analysing the Understanding Society dataset with 18,053 individuals representative of the UK population, measuring time since moving home, travel mode to work, and strength of environmental attitudes. Results support previous findings where car use is significantly lower among those with stronger environmental views (but only after recently moving home), and in addition, demonstrate a trend where this effects decays as the time since moving home increases. We discuss results in light of moving into a new home being a potential 'window of opportunity' to promote pro-environmental behaviours.
Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, Bute Building, King Edward VII Ave, Cardiff, CF10 3NB, United Kingdom.
Gregory Owen
GO
Thomas
Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, Bute Building, King Edward VII Ave, Cardiff, CF10 3NB, United Kingdom.
Wouter
W
Poortinga
Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, Bute Building, King Edward VII Ave, Cardiff, CF10 3NB, United Kingdom.
Elena
E
Sautkina
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001336:Automobiles; D001519:Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003463:Cues; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006184:Habits; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology; D012952:Societies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014195:Travel; D006113:United Kingdom; D055815:Young Adult