HABIT FORMATION
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1500 ▶ |
| Object type | Human sciences |
The progressive acquisition of fixed mental patterns and behaviors through imprinting, training or learning.
From the physiological viewpoint, recent research seems to indicate that habit formation and retention take place in “two fundamentlly different learning and retention systems. These systems use different circuitry within the brain, store different aspects of experience and follow different rules of storage” (H.L. PETRI and M. MISHKIN, 1994, p.36). The brain seems to be a network of networks. This is important for the understanding of our normal as well as pathological mental processes.
Habit formation presents various aspects:
1) It is based on experimental recognition of repetitive situations or patterns.
2) it supposes the perception of at least a degree of coherent complexity (through appreciation of recognized Gestalten and their contexts).
3) it implies the progressive stabilization of specific and coordinated neural feedbacks in nets.
4) it becomes efficient by compression of redundant data into standardized perceptions, shaping of mental maps and of totalizing concepts.
5) it supposes the substitution of “… a deeper and more enduring change for a more superficial and reversible one” (1973, p.321).
In G. BATESON's words: “The phenomenon of habit formation sorts out the ideas which survive repeated use and puts them in a more or less separate category” (p.477).
This is also true for behavioral habits.