Behavior In Charles Duhigg's 'The Power Of Habit'

Mystery of Habit

Brain is the most powerful organ in the human body, since it’s responsible for everything from the way you move to what you think; however, the lack of distinguishing between good and bad habits challenges individuals to understand the habit loop. In his novel, The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg presents a diagram of the habit loop cycle explaining how habits form with the presence of a cue, followed through by a routine, and ending with a reward. From Duhigg’s theories on habits, I continue my habit, or routine of constantly listening to music with lyrics while doing schoolwork whether that is studying for a test or doing homework for a class because I crave the reward of finishing schoolwork while listening to music; however,

In the habit loop cycle there is a cue, which according to Duhigg is a “.. Trigger that tells

Your brain to go into automatic mode and which habits to use” (19). In other words, Cue is the starting engine that drives individuals habits automatically without having individuals consent. Individuals react to a cue like a natural instinct as if a puppy would do a trick for their owners for a little treat to enjoy. When teaching a puppy how to respond to a clicker, the owner would simply start the clicking sound and immediately reward the puppy with a treat when responded to the sound. Repeating this process several times will build a habit into the puppy’s brain allowing immediate access, when next time the owner makes the clicking noise the puppy would respond to the clicking sound without having to think because the puppy has memorized the habit to use for later because of the reward. As for me, my habit of listening to

That craving is what powers the habit loop” (pg33). Craving is the actual fuel that starts the habit loop to a rotating cycle, without the feeling of crave there’s no habit loop since the individual doesn’t have any intention to seek rewards. Wolfram Schultz a professor of neuroscience at the University of Cambridge conducted an experiment with a monkey named Julio; the purpose of the experiment was to examine how Julio’s brain would react when Julio followed a procedure of touching a lever when the colored shape appeared on a monitor then Julio was rewarded with a drop of his favorite blackberry juice. While repeating this experiment, Schultz has seen an unusual activity inside Julio’s brain, where at first Julio’s brain activity started spiking when he was rewarded with drop of blackberry juice; however, as the experiment continued its brain activity started spiking when the cue appeared on the screen. Julio’s brain had developed a habit; “… habit only emerges once Julio begins craving the juice when he sees the cue” (49). Now that Julio has developed a craving for the blackberry juice, he will automatically follow the habit. This experiment clearly proves how significant craving can be since it drives the habit loop. Likewise, I crave the reward of finishing my schoolwork while relaxing to the music since; it allows me to release the stress that’s been pilling up inside my brain from