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Habit Modification

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The Psychology of Habit

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Abstract

This chapter discusses habit disorders with a focus on nervous habits and discusses the research on behavioural treatment of nervous habits. Nervous habits are repetitive movements that involve objects or body parts and may include behaviours such as hair pulling, nail biting, thumb sucking, oral habits, skin picking, and scratching. Nervous habits become a problem when they occur excessively or cause distress or tissue damage. Nervous habits are maintained through positive reinforcement when they provide stimulation (e.g. oral or digital stimulation for thumb sucking) or negative reinforcement when they result in relief from tension or anxiety. Habit reversal, the most commonly used intervention for nervous habits consisting of multiple components with a focus on promoting awareness and the use of a competing response, has been shown to be effective when used alone or with additional behavioural interventions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Raymond G. Miltenberger & Claire A. Spieler

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  1. Raymond G. Miltenberger
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  2. Claire A. Spieler
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Correspondence to Raymond G. Miltenberger .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK

    Bas Verplanken

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Miltenberger, R.G., Spieler, C.A. (2018). Habit Modification. In: Verplanken, B. (eds) The Psychology of Habit. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97529-0_9

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