The science behind behavioural change
Why is changing habits so challenging for most people?
"A study showed that when doctors tell heart patients they will die if they don't change their habits, only one in seven will be able to follow through successfully. Desire and motivation aren't enough; even when it's literally a matter of life or death, the ability to change remains maddeningly elusive."
- Robert Kegan & Lisa Laskow Lahey in Immunity to Change
Positive change does not fail to occur because of insincerity; of course the heart patient wants to keep living! It fails because human beings are a walking contradiction, we want both; keep living and keep living the way we always have.
There are at least three powerful forces at play here and they each play their game at the subconscious level. We are on the whole mostly unaware of these forces and they pretty much run on autopilot. "We cannot manage what we cannot see" so key to success is to understand these forces and learn how to work with them and how to effectively counter them.
The first force is "homeostasis", a phenomenon that is at play across our eleven (!) organ systems in the human body including for example the nervous, endocrine (collection of glands that produce hormones), circulatory, respiratory, digestive and immune system. These systems work together to maintain a functioning human body and does so within very tight tolerances, for example our body temperature is controlled within only a one degree range.
Homeostasis (see illustration) is the tendency to resist change in order to maintain a stable, relatively constant internal environment.
In other words our entire human psychology and physiology has evolved default wiring to seriously dislike change and deal to it just as efficiently as possible.
We are hardwired to "register all chance as an error" and a lot of the response is biological, our various systems will release powerful messengers and hormones to resist the change and restore equilibrium again.
The second force involves our subconscious part of our brain which is, from an evolutionary perspective, made up of some of the oldest, densest and most reliable parts of the brain. It is in these parts of the brain where we store important driving forces such as our beliefs, biasis, identity and so on (see illustration below).
Studies in the neuroscience field have pointed to a reality that our subconscious mind may well be responsible for as much as 95% of what we feel, think and do. We think the outer layer of our brain (the cortex that makes us human) is running the show, but in reality there is a much more complex dynamic at play and we actually nowhere near as in charge as what we think.
James Clear in his book Atomic Habits articulates well how this dynamic plays out in relation to habit change. From his research he has concluded that it is not the outcomes / goals we set that drive our habits but rather it is our sense of identity that shapes our habits. Our sense of identity encompasses how we see ourselves, the beliefs we hold about who we are (and are not) as well as our attributes that give us a sense of security, safety and self-worth.
By way of example if I see myself as an elite athlete, adopting a healthy nutrition routine and laying off the alcohol will almost come naturally. However, if I see myself as and get a sense of self-worth from living life to the fullest and enjoying all (including food and wine) it has to offer, adopting that same healthy nutrition routine is completely juxtaposed to my sense of identity. No matter how many outcomes / goals I set, making this change is going to be an uphill battle.
The third force involves our human capacity for neuroplasticity, which actually works both against and for habit change. Neuroplasticity, also known as brain plasticity, or neural plasticity, is the ability of the brain to change continuously throughout an individual's life. For example brain activity associated with a given function can be transferred to a different location, the proportion of grey matter can change, and particular neural pathways may strengthen or weaken over time. The short video below explains neuroplasticity really well.
So every habit (thought, emotion, action) is associated with a very specific and consistent pathway of neurons firing together in our brain. As with a pathway in a forest, the more we travel this pathway the smoother and wider it becomes and the easier it is to travel down that path. Just think back to your first driving lesson and how your brain was going crazy trying to coordinate all the different aspects of driving the car compared to how you can now do it virtually on auto-pilot.
Once these pathways have been developed they become strong habitual defaults which don't need any conscious effort to get kicked into gear. All it needs is what we call the habit cue, which is one of four components of the habit cycle or habit loop (see illustration).
The more we travel these habitual or default pathways the stronger they become and the cocktail of neurochemicals that get released everytime we travel these pathways are a potent reward that our brain doesn't really want to do without.
Even when we stop traveling the pathway (for example we replace a bad habit with a good one) it takes time for the pathway to become "less travelled" and research indicates it may never fully disappear, which is why you often see people reverting back to an old habit, during times of high stress for example, even years after they have parted with it.
The really good news is of course that we can deploy our neuroplasticity capability also in support of establishing new habits, those new habits that form part of a health lifestyle and that get us to where we want to go; reaching our health, well-being and performance potential! Contrary to popular belief we retain this capacity for neuroplasticity throughout our adult life. Of course the young and developing brain exhibits a higher degree of plasticity than the adult brain but neuroscientists have determined that we can continue to lay down new pathways in the brain until old age.
As you have seen, the creation of new pathways requires us to travel them often. This is the basis for the popular information you will find on the internet that "it takes 30 days to create a new habit". The number of days stated varies quite a bit which is most likely due to the reality that it is more about the number of times you need to travel down the new pathway than the amount of days. A higher daily frequency of engaging in the new habit, reduces the number of days it will take for a strong new neural pathway to be developed.
Stages of change
The transtheoretical model (TTM), developed by James O. Prochaska of the University of Rhode Island, and Carlo Di Clemente, provides another useful perspective. The model is composed of a few components including stages of change that depicts change as a process involving progressing through six stages.
Stage 1: Precontemplation (not ready)
At this stage we do not intend to start the healthy behavior in the near future (within 6 months), and may be unaware of the need to change. People here learn more about healthy behavior: they are encouraged to think about the pros of changing their behavior and to feel emotions about the effects of their negative behavior on others.
Precontemplators typically underestimate the pros of changing, overestimate the cons, and often are not aware of making such mistakes.
One of the most effective steps that others can help with at this stage is to encourage them to become more mindful of their decision making and more conscious of the multiple benefits of changing an unhealthy behavior.
Stage 2: Contemplation (getting ready)
At this stage, we are intending to start the healthy behavior within the next 6 months. While we are usually now more aware of the pros of changing, their cons are about equal to their Pros. Ambivalence about changing can cause us to keep putting off taking action.
People here learn about the kind of person they could be if they changed their behavior and learn more from people who behave in healthy ways.
Others can influence and help effectively at this stage by encouraging them to work at reducing the cons of changing their behavior.
Stage 3: Preparation (ready)
At this stage we are ready to start taking action within the next 30 days. We take small steps that we believe can help us make the healthy behavior a part of their lives. For example, we tell our friends and family that we want to change our behavior.
People in this stage should be encouraged to seek support from friends they trust, tell people about their plan to change the way they act, and think about how they would feel if they behaved in a healthier way. Their number one concern is: when they act, will they fail? They learn that the better prepared they are, the more likely they are to keep progressing.
Stage 4: Action (current action)
At this stage we have changed our behavior within the last 6 months and need to work hard to keep moving ahead. We need to learn how to strengthen our commitments to change and to fight urges to slip back.
People in this stage progress by being taught techniques for keeping up their commitments such as substituting activities related to the unhealthy behavior with positive ones, rewarding themselves for taking steps toward changing, and avoiding people and situations that tempt them to behave in unhealthy ways.
Stage 5: Maintenance (monitoring)
At this stage we have been able to sustain action / new behavior for more than 6 months ago. We need to continue be aware of situations that may tempt us to slip back into the unhealthy behavior / old habit, particularly in times of heightened stress.
It is recommended that people in this stage seek support from and talk with people whom they trust, spend time with people who behave in healthy ways, and remember to engage in healthy activities to cope with stress instead of relying on unhealthy behavior.
Stage 6: Termination (embodied)
At this stage we no longer experience any temptation to revert back to the the unhealthy behavior / old habit. The new neural pathways have become very well traveled and are now the new habitual default and the old pathways have "grown over". In other words we have embodied the new way of being and our healthy lifestyle has become a core part of who we are (our sense of identity)
It is useful to pause for a minute and check-in with yourself. What stage are you currently at? If you are at stage 1 or 2, what steps do you need to take to transition to stage 3 and be ready to make the positive changes that will enable you to reach your health, well-being and performance potential?
