1. Breaking Bad Habits: The Science & Psychology of Behavior Change
Richard Jones MA, MBA, LCAS, CEAP, CCS, SAP

2. Bell Curve , Normal Distribution & Just Do It!
Obstinate unwilling
Just DO IT CROWD
Process of Change= 94%

3. ENTER PROCESS

4. Why?
Ready
Willing
Able..

5. WHAT IS A HABIT? A regularly repeated behavior pattern
Bring up new years resolution- ask audience how many had a new years resolution? How many are sticking to it at this point?
A regularly repeated behavior pattern
An action or pattern of behavior that is repeated so often that it becomes typical, although the person may be unaware of it.

6. WHAT MAKES CHANGING HABITS DIFFICULT??
Habits become deeply ingrained over time and the brain almost automatically initiates patterns of behavior in response to various stimuli.
Without a clearly defined plan or strategy, very little chance for success.
Modify expectations for results (gradual progress is more likely than immediate success).
…brain goes into autopilot mode/ habits become a go-to response. Becomes virtually involuntary – conditioned responses.
…knowing your triggers, planning how to work through these events, ride out urges/cravings (ex. frozen grapes).
Strategy: slow down the body’s response, allow for the full thought process to kick in think of consequences. “how will I feel after?”
Cold turkey… may be effective in some cases research shows a high rate of relapse, gradual reduction considered more effective (start slow, wean off.)
Seek Support (notion of a sponsor, client’s success with this will largely depend on the support staff provides).
This process is difficult for any person and having cognitive or intellectual challenges only magnifies this. Nonetheless, real changes in thinking and behavior are achievable with the right motivation, support, and persistence. This won’t happen overnight.

7. HOW IS A HABIT FORMED?
Habits are formed over time, usually without our conscious intent allowing them to become ingrained.
Habits are formed when the brain links specific behaviors with rewards.
The more immediate the reward, the stronger the link.
Repeating the reward will reinforce the habit
Cant say unconscious then choose wisely?
Discuss invisible forces at play (subtle reinforcers)

8. REWARDS Rewards are not just pleasure.
A reward is an immediate improvement.
Lessening of distress, pain, or anxiety will ingrain a habit just as strongly as a pleasurable reward.
Negative Reinforcement
Positive Reinforcement
Invite staff to consider a habit they now have or had at some point (silently) and think about what makes the habit rewarding (what are you getting out of it?)
discuss types of reinforcement: Relief -seeking, avoidance, diversion/escape, comfort/security, attention, ego boost
Work though a few examples with staff help:
What’s rewarding about drinking /drug use? Escape, diversion, relief
Compulsive spending? Filling a void of some kind to feel better about oneself

9. BAD HABITS Bad habits cause immediate rewards but long-term harm.
Good habits must replace bad ones
Depriving yourself of rewards makes the brain seek them even more.
Ask staff: name some habits that cause long term harm?
“Good habits cause immediate rewards” (do they always?) edit: good habits bring about long term benefits but rewards may be delayed
Peter: Mention short term benefit, long term
One- sided communication
Smoking/tobacco
Caffeine
Unhealthy diet (soda, sugar, overeating)
Chronic lateness
Unchecked emotion/anger
Impulsiveness (around spending money or decision/actions in general)
Messy home
Harm
Rigidity/inflexible thinking
Enabling another’s bad habits/patterns
Compulsive control
Alcohol
Pessimism
Vegetative lifestyle (i.e.-laziness)
Stress reactions
Adrenaline Junkies
Gossiping

10. HOW OUR BRAIN VALUES SOMETHING
Rewards are linked to behaviors. We can overvalue habits that have been linked to other rewards like pretty faces, symbols of power, successes or relief.
Classic example in advertising. Intentional effort to create an “urge”… The more they can throw at you… the more likely the urge comes.
Pictures of attractive faces activate dopamine reward circuits and arbitrary pictures that had been shown at the same time as the attractive faces were preferred following in the next viewing session.
Belief that we depend on a habit to function well in a situation
Advertisers use of attractive models to sell their products is a classic example of linking. Studies have shown that after being instructed to rate attractiveness while viewing photos of random faces, participants rate a face as highly attractive when dopamine reward circuits are activated .

11. Numbers (media dynamics inc, 2014)
Average number of advertisement and brand exposures per day per person: 5,000+
Average number of “ads only” exposures per day: 362
Average number of “ads only” noted per day: 153
Average number of “ads only” that we have some awareness of per day: 86
Average number of “ads only” that made an impression (engagement): 12

12. Carpet Bomb!
27% of advertisements “using sex to sell” exposure per day…
Alcohol advertisement 400% increase over the last 40 years…
70% of food ads on Nickelodeon for “junk food” (candy, sugary cereal, etc…)

13. Urge/Cravings

15. Automatic Thinking—recognizable patterns
150 MS
Further it has to travel the longer the time
New pathway requires more time

16. Fill in the blank…
Roses are red, violets are ________!

17. That looks closer to purple to me…
Roses are red. Violets are purple…

18. Impulsive Decisions

19. Impulsive Decisions
Avoid Triggers

20. Impulsive Decisions
Relieve tension: self soothing; supportive people

21. Impulsive Decisions
Blow it up. Bold Moves. Get Out. Run…

22. Impulsive Decisions Abstinence Violation Effect (AVE) Shake it off…
Reward Success…

23. What makes it harder to interrupt impulse…
Decision Fatigue & Willpower
Fatigue
Emotional reserves/distractions
Behavior/lifestyle choices as a way to cope with negative emotions

24. Situation or Event Thinking Emotion Behavior /Habit Consequence
ROLE OF THOUGHTS
& EMOTIONS
Our beliefs and thoughts influence every aspect of our behavior.
The more awareness we have of our thinking, the greater control we have over our behavior.
…IN FORMING HABITS.
…for better or worse. Often we are not fully aware of why we act the way we do – our subconscious is always at play. We become conditioned to act/respond certain ways overtime.
…and less likely we are to be controlled by our habits.
Common chain of events: Situation, Distorted thinking leads to negative emotions which lead to habits which lead to consequences (effective way of coping in the moment but causes harm down the road).
Situations/Events are largely out of our control, as is the habit when fully ingrained. Therefore, change must occur in the underlying thinking about ourselves or the situation that influences the thinking that triggers the emotion and habit in order to break the cycle.
Ex: procrastination of an assignment
Situation or Event Thinking Emotion
Behavior /Habit Consequence

25. STYLES OF DISTORTED THINKING
Filtering
Catastrophizing
Personalization
Overgeneralization
Emotional Reasoning
Control Fallacies
Can be bad habits by themselves but also lead to problematic behavior…
Most of us probably have been guilty of thinking one of these ways or know others who have. Mind traps.
Filtering.
We take the negative details and magnify them while filtering out all positive aspects of a situation
Catastrophizing.
We expect disaster to strike, no matter what. Imagine worst possible outcome.
Personalization.
We believe everything others do or say is some kind of direct, personal reaction to us (egocentricism).
Overgeneralization.
We come to a general conclusion based on a single incident or a single piece of evidence. Failed once, will always fail.
Emotional Reasoning.
We believe that what we feel must be true automatically. I feel I’m boring, therefore I am.
Control Fallacies.
If we feel externally controlled, we see ourselves as helpless a victim of fate. Might as well do nothing.

26. WORK ON YOUR THOUGHTS TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS
Thinking through our motivation, what we value, where we want to be.
Recognizing distortions of thought within ourselves.
Reframing: for each form of distorted thinking, come up with a disputation.
Retrain the Brain: practice substituting distorted thoughts with more accurate disputations.
Identify and prioritize your values. What is important to you? What do you admire and value? What do you want to be remembered for?
Do your habits support or conflict with your values? 
Scare tactics ineffective. Desire to change must come from within.
Change must occur in thinking about oneself or situation that influences the behavior or habit in order to break the habit.
Helps to have a sudden epiphany, but more likely a realization that comes gradually over time, with repeat experience of consequences or accumulative effect. Cost/benefits analysis of our habit (ex. of the binge drinker).
Recognizing distortion of thought within ourselves or individual we are helping.
For each form of distorted thinking, come up with disputation. Challenge/Retrain the brain to consider the alternative thought.

27. SET ACHEIVABLE GOALS Awareness is the first key
Link your new habits to your LONG TERM
values and goals
Use the awareness of your long term goals
(willpower) to change your own reward values
Kym
How can I make this a success?
Awareness is the first key- what are your negative associations?
How has this habit become integrated into your life?
 How can you undo those connections- how will you substitute?
Link your new habits to your LONG TERM values and goals
What new habit will you instill- What goals will you set?
What is going to help you achieve this?
What is hindering your ability to achieve this?
Use the awareness of your long term goals (willpower) to change your own reward values
What is important to you?
Half habits- taking small steps to achieve your goal.
Specific
Measurable
Realistic
Incremental
Repitition and reward

28. PAVE THE WAY FOR SUCCESS
Track
Avoid
Replace
Observe
Kym
Linking the replacement behavior to the habit/ Making it a compatible replacement- context related.
Track when you display your habits and the context
Avoid triggers associated with your habit
Replace the bad habit with a compatible ‘good’ habit (taking 5 deep breaths instead of smoking- find the thing the person really cares about and link new habit to persons essential values and goals)
Observe others who have achieved the goal we want (non-smokers if we are a smoker), and mimic their habits- build new associations.

29. Solicitous Spouse Effect- THEN WHAT DEFINES “HELPING” ANOTHER?
ENABLING HABITS
Solicitous Spouse Effect-
One study showed that people who deal with chronic pain experience a measurable three-fold increase in their experience of pain when they have a ‘solicitous spouse’ present who typically dotes on their pain.
THEN WHAT DEFINES “HELPING” ANOTHER?
The report explained that “Through the feedback loops of a marriage or long partnership, the patient’s pain has shaped the helping behavior of the solicitous spouse, who in turn has become a stimulus to provoke the pain.”
Chandra One study showed that the pain suffered by people with severe, chronic backaches would increase three-fold when their “solicitous husbands and wives were present in the room when electric shocks were applied to their aching backs.
“The neural monitors showed that the more the husbands or wives dwelt on their partners’ pain, the worse it felt,” stated the lead investigator.
The report explained that “Through the feedback loops of a marriage or long partnership, the patient’s pain has shaped the helping behavior of the solicitous spouse, who in turn has become a stimulus to provoke the pain.”
In the work on spouses and pain, researchers used a technique that records brain activity, termed an electroencephalogram (EEG) to find that some husbands and wives can boost the pain response of patients with chronic back pain. "For the first time we have discovered that a social variable, namely the presence of a spouse, can influence the brain's response to pain," says the study's lead author Herta Flor, PhD, of the University of Heidelberg in Germany.
Specifically, Flor and her colleagues found that the presence of "solicitous" spouses can increase pain. These spouses had a history of dwelling on their partners' pain. "Non-solicitous spouses" caused no effect. This group did not focus on their partners' pain in the past and even tried to distract them from it.
In the study the researchers administered painful electric stimulation to 10 patients with solicitous spouses that had chronic back pain, 10 pain patients with non-solicitous spouses and 10 healthy controls. Spouses sat in the laboratory and were not allowed to interact with the patients.
"Our EEG results indicate that painful stimulation applied to the back induced brain activity in the chronic pain patients that was two and a half times higher when a solicitous spouse was in the room," says Flor. "These patients also showed more overt signs of feeling pain, such as moaning."
The anterior cingulate cortex, a brain structure that has been linked to the processing of pain, showed the most prominent increase in activity following back stimulation. "The data suggest that the painful stimulation of the back in the presence of a solicitous spouse directly activates brain regions involved in the processing of pain and leads to a more intense response," says Flor.
The presence of a solicitous spouse did not affect the brain's response to painful stimulation of the finger or non-painful stimulation.
"The findings show that the solicitous spouse has become a cue for a more intense pain experience in the back," says Flor. "Treatment of chronic pain should focus on the modification of these types of negative influences on a patient's social environment."

30. WHY IS WILLPOWER NOT ENOUGH?
“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.” - Mark Twain
Willpower is great for increasing perseverance through a difficult task, but is not great for preventing you from doing bad habits.
Kym
How can willpower help? -It can help if we connect our new GOOD habit to long-term, beneficial consequences.
-It also can help if we take small steps to increasing positive habits before our targeted “quit date”.
How does conscious thought modify the process?
Willpower alone is not enough to actively hold back habits
We must reframe our expectations, beliefs and values- alter value estimates
Substitution with similar contexts to override the habit
Much of our society is set up to overvalue bad habits, so it typically takes intentional reshaping of expectations, thoughts and environment to align our reward value estimates with the actual impact of the response on health.
It has been shown that our thoughts alone can control/modulate our dopamine response. When there is the expectation of reward, we respond with a dopamine release, even with a placebo
“Removing the secondary gain may trigger the brain to seek even more reward” ~PC
Ex. don’t think about a white elephant
WHY: Because holding something in active memory (frontal cortex- associated with willpower) makes the brain constantly aware of what you are trying NOT to do! i.e.- do not think of a white elephant!
Why?
How can willpower help?
How does conscious thought modify the process?

31. SECONDARY GAIN
Doting, rescuing or attending primarily to negative responses can reinforce bad habits in others
Providing attention, relief, or rescuing people when they feel bad or respond inappropriately can reward bad responses and make them habitual
Talk about
These rewards can turn a negative response into a habit
If we are rewarded for doing things that make us feel bad, we tend to feel bad!

32. HABITS ARE CONTAGIOUS
We are pre-programmed to mimic/model the behavior of those we surround ourselves with.
People
Places
Things
Social reinforcement rewards habits
The “culture” of the household you work in

33. Visualization
Guided Imagery
practicing/imagining the new behavior can help us speed the learning of it.
Visualizing the action strengthens your neural pathways the same as if you had physically done the action. .
***Kym
EX: In an experiment with a group of skiers, EMG discovered that when they mentally rehearsed their downhill runs, the electrical impulses sent to the muscles were the same as when physically engaged in the runs.
Guided Imagery exercises

34. GOOD HABITS What are good habits? With handout/
ask for audience participation on what good habits could be used to replace the bad habit your group was assigned
Being on time
Meeting deadlines
Eating a healthier diet
Responding to s
Initiating projects
Completing projects
Getting organized
Budgeting money
Improving communication
Setting goals and achieving them
Regular exercise
What are good habits?

35. Final Thoughts One thing at time?
How long until new habit is established?

36. Agenda Overview Some “new tools”
Other considerations: “Life Satisfaction”; “Helping Relationships”
Where do we go from here…

37. Happiness and Wellbeing: A Formula
Happiness = Spt (50%) + Cir (10%) + Vc (40%)
Set Point = 50%
Circumstances = 10%
Voluntary Control = 40%

38. PERMA
P= Pleasure
E= Engagement
R= Relationship
M= Meaning
A= Attitude

39. Takeaway Number 1 Examine your life in the context of PERMA:
Is there any area where you are lacking?
Do you have plenty of things & fun but lack quality relationships? (Pleasure over Relationships)
Do you enjoy your job but have no hobbies or fun outside of work? (Engagement over Pleasure)
Do you have hobbies & good job but a pessimistic outlook on events? (Engagement/Pleasure over Attitude)
Is there anywhere you can improve? A focus area?

40. Three paths to happiness:
The Pleasant Life
The Good Life
The Meaningful Life
Psychologists have also found that these things can be learned. You can make yourself happy.
Increasing pleasure and positive emotion
Finding your signature strengths, and using them
Using your strengths to do something you find meaningful

41. Forgiveness Identify the OBJECT of forgiveness? Ready (timing?)
Willing (motivation?)
Able (stuck?)
What’s the next action?

42. The Free Three…

43. Number 2 Thing You Didn’t Know About Happiness: “FLOW and the good life”

44. FLOW– “Being in the zone”

45. FLOW: “Simply the most desirable state on the planet”
Lose track of time
Performance and productivity at all time high
Feeling of well being in the FLOW state and immediately after the experience
Happens when challenge is high enough and abilities are high enough
Triggers that produce flow:
Psychological (example—intense focus and attention)
Environmental (serious consequences for failure)
Social (shared goals; shared consequences)

46. Takeaway Number 2-Increase FLOW
Start each task with the end in mind: Know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Solitude and concentration (if possible).
Flow in social settings/meetings: maximum attention to the here and now. Blocked off from other distractions. Set the tone at the start of meetings.
Mindfulness: Practice bringing your full attention to the task. Drive to work with the radio off.

47. Number 3 Thing You Didn’t Know About Happiness: “It’s about what’s right with you not what’s wrong with you”

48. Character Strengths and Virtues
From the beginning of human history (written) there have been universal “goods” identified.
THESE CHARACTER STRENGHTS ARE UNIVERSALLY ADMIRED ACROSS ALL CULTURES
Examples: wisdom, creativity, love of learning, bravery, persistence, integrity, kindness, emotional intelligence, personal intelligence, fairness, teamwork, citizenship, leadership, forgiveness, mercy, humility, humor, spirituality

49. You are happiest when you “operate within your top strengths”.
My top 5:
Capacity to love and be loved
Industry, diligence, perseverance
Zest, enthusiasm, energy
Hope, optimism
Bravery, valor
My bottom 2:
Modesty and humility
Appreciation of beauty

50. Takeaway Number 3-Operate within your strengths

51. Number 4 Thing You Didn’t Know About Happiness: “You choose your attitude and outlook on life”
50% Voluntary Control
50% Hereditary

52. Number 5 Thing You Didn’t Know About Happiness: You Can Build on Positive Emotions
Positive emotions can “snowball” and we can actively participate in the process. “Positive emotions beget positive emotions”.
Savoring, gratitude, and other intentional activities have been shown to increase subjective well being.

53. Number 5 Takeaway(s): Build Positive Emotion
“Three Good Things”– At the end of each day write down 3 good things that happened to you that day. You will condition your brain to recognize the positive.
“Five Good Pictures”– Use your phone and take 5 pictures of people, places, and things that “make you smile”. Periodically and randomly scroll through these pictures. Smiling releases neurochemicals which enhance mood.
Example: “1 of My Good Pictures”—family