Scott Brown, age 14, of Mableton, Ga., for his question:
HOW IS A HABIT LEARNED?
Some habits are very simple and only require movement from a few of the body's muscles. A simple motor act, for example, is a habit that happens when you approach a door.
Your hand almost automatically reaches for the knob and you turn it. Now a simple habit, the action originally had to be learned. A doorknob is a real challenge to a child on first meeting.
When you learn to do something by repeating the action over and over, it becomes a habit that can be accomplished almost without thinking about it.
It would be hard to walk down the street if you had to stop and think about every step, wouldn't it? But habit lets you pick up one leg after another without thinking of the action or movement that is taking place. Strong habits become automatic and require little or no thought.
A habit is much different from an instinct. An instinct is behavior that is inborn while a habit is behavior that is learned.
A stimulus, or something that starts an action, must be present each time a habit is carried out. Most psychologists say that a person will learn a habit only if it benefits him in some way. If the habit satisfies a person, he will tend to keep it. When a habit becomes unpleasant, he may break it.
A person may have the habit of eating a piece of coffee cake each morning because of the pleasure it gives. But he may break the habit when he decides that it is adding unwanted weight to his body. This type of habit is called reward or reinforcement.
Some habits are more than simple motor acts. Many of them require thoughts and attitudes. Neat appearance and pleasant manners are considered good habits.
In their study of habits, psychologists have taught rats certain habits and then have cut their nervous systems at many points. Despite the cuts, the rats were able to perform their habits. This experiment suggests that the learning of habits does not depend on specific nerve connections and does not occur only in particular parts of the brain. What happens in the brain when we learn habits is not known.
Most habits begin as actions that a person is aware of. The more he performs an action, the easier it becomes.
Habits play an important part in all human behavior. People tend to continue doing what they are used to doing as long as they possibly can.
Good habits in very young children are almost entirely a matter of good training. As children grow older they may find that two good habits conflict with each other. A child with a habit of always telling the truth and also obeying his mother may develop a conflict when the mother tells the child to tell a telephone caller that his parents are out.