Do Habits Fade Out? Discerning Between Two Theories Using Agent-Based Simulation

Abstract

Inducing behavioural change requires a good understanding of how habits break. We identified two theories in the psychological literature on this process: the decrease theory and persist theory. Both theories are used to explain behavioural change, but one states the original habit fades out, while the other theory states the habit persists. We use agent-based simulation to show that the two theories lead to different behaviour when the agents are motivated to do multiple alternative actions (e.g., take the bike or take the train), instead of one alternative action (e.g., take the bike). This finding is relevant for the social scientific field, because (1) it shows a scenario where it matters if habits persist and (2) it enables an empirical experiment to discern the two theories.