Habits as knowledge structures: Automaticity in goal-directed behavior

This study rested the idea of habits as a form of goal-directed automatic b ehavior. Expanding on the idea that habits are mentally represented as asso ciations between goals and actions, it was proposed that goals are capable of activating the habitual action. More specific, when habits are establish ed (e.g., frequent cycling to the university), the very activation of the g oal to act (e.g., having to attend lectures at the university) automaticall y evokes the habitual response (e.g., bicycle). Indeed, it was tested and c onfirmed that, when behavior is habitual, behavioral responses are activate d automatically. in addition, the results of 3 experiments indicated that ( a) the automaticity in habits is conditional on the presence of an active g oal (cf. goal-dependent automaticity; J. A. Bargh, 1989), supporting the id ea that habits are mentally represented as goal-action links, and (b) the f ormation of implementation intentions (i.e., the creation of a strong menta l link between a goal and action) may simulate goal-directed automaticity i n habits.