What Is a Habitual Behavior?

Habitual behavior, commonly called routines, is behavior that is regularly repeated and tends to occur subconsciously. Habitual behavior is learned behavior that becomes so automatic that the person exhibiting the behavior isn't aware she is doing it. It is often used to create order or structure in everyday life. While most habitual behaviors, such as drinking your morning cup of coffee, are harmless, negative habitual behaviors, such as smoking, can be detrimental to physical and mental health.

Causes of Habitual Behavior

• Habitual behavior is learned behavior. Humans learn and acquire new behavior patterns in response to particular stimuli. The reaction to the stimuli might not be immediately obvious to the individual, but once the same response to the stimuli is repeated several times, the process is learned and the behavior becomes second nature, as instinctive to us as breathing and requiring little conscious thought. Think about when you first learned to ride a bike. Once the process of pedaling was learned and repeated, this pattern became second nature.

Types of Habitual Behavior

• While some habitual behavior such as our morning exercise routine can be positive, others such as such as cigarette smoking can cause long-term emotional, physical and psychological harm and can be very difficult to overcome. Once the behavior has become too harmful, it might be helpful to visit a trained professional who can assist you in overcoming the negative habitual behavior.

Willpower

• Habitual behaviors can turn into addictions. What differentiates a bad habit from becoming an addiction is the existence of willpower. Once a person has control over the behavior, and can change it at will, then it is just a habit.

Overcoming Bad Habitual Behavior

• Bad habitual behavior such as smoking or overeating can be extremely difficult to overcome because these behaviors have become automatic, unconscious forms of memory. Willpower may help an individual to overcome these bad habits, however, factors such as stress can cause individuals to return to their negative habitual behavior. According to John Grobal, CEO and founder of Psych Central, stress weakens our control over memory and behavior, allowing automatic or habitual behaviors from the past to become more influential and override our good intentions and willpower.