By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent
You probably didn’t think much about brushing your teeth this morning. Or making that cup of coffee. Or scrolling through your phone before heading out the door. That’s because, according to new research, nearly nine out of every ten actions people take each day are automatic and performed with little to no conscious thought. A team of behavioral scientists from the University of South Carolina, Central Queensland University in Australia, and the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom tracked 105 people for a week. Using real-time prompts, the researchers discovered that 88 percent of daily behaviors were “habitually executed,” while 65 percent were “habitually instigated”—triggered by environmental cues rather than conscious decisions.
Amanda Rebar, associate professor at the University of South Carolina and lead researcher, explained that most people like to imagine themselves as careful decision makers. “However, much of our repetitive behavior is undertaken with minimal forethought and is instead generated automatically, by habit,” Rebar stated.
The study broke down automatic behavior into two parts. Habitual instigation occurs when a cue—like hearing a notification—automatically sparks an action, such as checking a phone. Habitual execution refers to carrying out an activity without actively thinking, such as brushing teeth or driving a familiar route. Researchers found that demographics, including age, gender, and marital status, made no difference in how automatic people’s lives were. One exception stood out: exercise. People were more likely to be automatically prompted to start working out, but the activity itself required conscious attention once it began. This means cues may successfully get someone to lace up their sneakers, but they still need deliberate focus to complete the workout.
Interestingly, most automatic actions weren’t working against personal goals. Nearly half of all behaviors studied were both habitual and intentional. Only 17 percent of daily activities happened by habit but ran counter to what a person consciously wanted to do. Researchers tracked more than 3,700 behavioral moments across categories, including employment, domestic tasks, eating, screen time, and transportation. Employment and education accounted for 22 percent of daily actions, while domestic tasks and screen time followed closely at 18 percent and 17 percent.
Experts said the takeaway is clear that, while people may consciously intend to live a certain way, their brains are already running much of the show. Habits quietly steer the course of everyday life, and scientists say the best way forward is to design the right cues to make good behaviors automatic. “Our research shows that while people may consciously want to do something, the actual initiation and performance of that behavior is often done without thinking, driven by non-conscious habits,” said Benjamin Gardner, a psychology professor at the University of Surrey and co-author of the study. “This suggests that ‘good’ habits may be a powerful way to make our goals a reality.”
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