Goals, Habits, and Behaviors

An interesting piece on NPR morning edition today (1/2/12) on goals, environment, and behavior change. Key researchers interviewed are Jerome Jaffe, Lee Robins, Wendy Wood, and David T. Neal. Basically, while goals are a key driver of behaviors and behavior change, the performance environment plays a strong role in how behaviors are changed. If the environment in which the behavior or habit was learned/reinforced doesn't change, then it is likely the performance won't change either. Environment change can be as small has changing the hand you use to accomplish a task or as big as moving to a different country.