Hard to break : why our brains make habits stick
- New Jersey Princeton University Press 2021
- 214p.
Table of contents: Part I. The habit machine : why we get stuck 1. What is a habit? 2. The brain's habit machinery 3. Once a habit, always a habit 4. The battle for me 5. Self-control: the greatest human strength? 6. Addiction: habits gone bad Part II. Coming unstuck : the science of behaviour change 7. Toward a new science of behavior change 8. Planning for success: keys to successful behavior change 9. Hacking habits: new tools for behavior change
Well-publicized research in psychology tells us that over half of our attempts to change habitual behavior fail within one year. Even without reading the research, most of us will intuitively sense the truth in this, as we have all tried and failed to rid ourselves of one bad habit or another. The human story of habits and the difficulty of change has been told in many books - most of which will make only a quick reference to dopamine or the "lizard brain" before moving on to practical tips and tricks for behavior change. In contrast, Stuck: The Neuroscience of Why Changing Our Behavior is So Hard will tell the brain's story about why behavior is so hard to change.