Hard to Break

Subtitled 'why are our brains make habits stick', this is a fascinating update on neuropsychological research, some of which necessarily impinges on philosophy in terms of agency. The author regards the brain as 'a habit building machine' (note the mechanistic metaphor) and even uses phrases such as 'the brain exerts control', which tells you something about scientific habits of mind. The first part explains the nature of habits in relation to goals and reflexes, with an emphasis on trigger and response, also involved in reinforcement learning. The author describes the role of dopamine in building habits, as well as that of the basal ganglia in the reptilian brain. Habits are embedded in routines, and also enable us to perform skilled actions unconsciously. It seems that the ancient battle between habits and goal-directed behaviours reflects the competition between different brain systems involving the whole notion of willpower and self-control. It turns out that levels of self-control are strongly correlated with the ability to form good habits. Addictions illustrate the transition from impulsivity to compulsivity that apparently relies upon many of the same mechanisms as habits, but supercharged by dopamine.

The second part considers the science of behaviour change, particularly relevant in terms of current public health policies, of which giving up smoking is a classic example, though addictive substances are routinely incorporated into foods through research into brain neurochemistry. The author discusses various possible strategies for behaviour change, including the architecture of choice, loss aversion and framing, formulating rules, intervening in trigger warnings and training inhibition. We will all recognise what he calls the intention-behaviour gap. There is also work going on in memory modification, although this and other 'hacking techniques' are open to abuse and one should be wary of such phrases as 'precision medicine', an extension of the engineering metaphor. The epilogue was written during lockdown and I found it surprising that the author made no mention of highly effective behavioural psychology techniques employed over the last 18 months to induce fear and compliance – with such success that social behaviour will in all likelihood be fundamentally modified going forward. However, he is right to highlight the challenges posed by our impact on the environment to which his field may have a significant contribution to make.