Being told to keep the same time and place didn't build a habit faster
Who it’s about: Students
- No difference
Students told to keep the same place and time daily felt the habit was no more automatic than the others.
- Rule: In the same place each timetested
- Rule: At the same time every daytested
- Action: Do a short study sessionused
Small trial, groups not picked at random of 95 university students in Germany · vs students told to vary the place and time · they rated themselves
The study
Who took part
95 students at colleges in Germany, about 23 on average. Most were women and most took psychology.
What they did
Each student picked a new daily study habit of 3 to 30 minutes and logged it every day for 6 weeks. One group was told to do it in the same place at the same time each day. The other group was told to change the place and time.
What happened
The two groups didn't differ in how automatic the habit felt or how well they met their daily study goal. Students who said they did keep the same place and time also tended to say the habit felt more automatic. But that wasn't the comparison the study set up. The paper doesn't say how students were put into groups.
Source
Context Stability in Habit Building Increases Automaticity and Goal Attainment (2022)
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.883795 (opens in a new tab)
