Q1. Which feature most clearly distinguishes a habit from an action chosen anew each time?
Habits are learned responses that familiar cues can prompt with less deliberate decision-making.
Psychology
Quiz: How Habits Take Shape
Sample questions from this book. Open the app for the full chapter quizzes and final exam.
Q2. What is the best conclusion about how long habit formation takes?
Habit development varies, and consistency, context, and the complexity of the action all matter.
Q3. Why might someone keep checking messages even when it disrupts work?
Both short-term relief and occasional interesting or reassuring outcomes can reinforce checking.
Q4. What can happen when a familiar environment changes?
A changed context may weaken the usual cue–response pattern, making conscious goals more influential.
Q5. Which approach is most consistent with the chapter's suggestions for changing a habit?
Identifying cues and repeating an alternative response in the relevant situation supports new learning.
Q6. What is a cue in the development of a habit?
Cues can be external or internal signals associated with a response, making that response more likely in a familiar situation.
Q7. What does automaticity mean in the context of habits?
Automaticity describes how practice can make a response easier and less dependent on deliberate attention; it does not mean choice is impossible.
Q8. Which statement about the time needed to form a habit is best supported?
Habit formation varies with the person, action, and regularity of the relevant context, so there is no single timetable that applies to everyone.