The Power of Habit

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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I’m reading this book called The Power of Habit for my AP Lang summer assignment, and it states that bad habits can be overridden, but not eliminated, by identifying a “cue, a routine, and a reward” and changing the routine accordingly. One of the habit examples the book offers is that if you smell something delicious (cue), you will follow it and purchase whatever food is producing the smell (routine), and enjoying the delicacy (reward), thus causing a habit loop.

So, I thought I’d share this with you guys since a lot,and I mean a lot, of us struggle with procrastination and distractions. Any ideas as to what cues, routines, and rewards prompt us to unconsciously put down the books and start surfing the web?

2

One hypothesis I have heard is that the brain rewards us for accumulating information, as this information is percieved as beneficial for survival. But, our primitive instincts can’t differentiate whether this information is actually useful. Thus, the brain would prioritize finding a bunch of useless tidbits online to getting some overarching message from a novel.

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alright kid

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The antireward of boredom drives many a person away from learning

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tru