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LESSON IX

HABIT

We hear habit so much discussed from the moral point of view that we are apt to associate the term with moral habits only. But morality is only one of the aspects from which the law of habit may be regarded. It is in reality the widest and most fundamental of all the laws of mental life. It underlies everything that the mind does. Without it, there would be no acquiring of tendencies, abilities or information. Perception, memory and reasoning depend on the law of habit just as truly as do acts of will.

1. The physical basis of habit is found in the fact that nerve cells, like all other living tissue, are modified through use. A nerve cell that has once acted is so changed that it is easier for it to act again in the same way. A connection that has once been made by the transmission of a nerve impulse from one cell to another, is likely to be made again, and then again, until a very definite pathway has been established.

2. Since it is so wide in its application, the law of habit must be formulated in very general terms. It may be stated thus: Any connection, nervous or mental, which has been made, tends to recur. The degree of probability of its recurrence depends on its frequency, recency and intensity in past experience.

(1) Note, in the first place, that this law applies to any connection, nervous or mental. It may be the connection between an impression and a movement. We unconsciously take out our keys as we approach the home doorstep; the skilled pianist, without thinking, strikes the right key for each note on the score before her; the bicyclist “instinctively" balances himself by a compensating movement as he feels his body incline to one side or the other. These are not inborn connections of impression and movement; we misuse the term "instinctive" when we apply it to any such actions. They were at first matters of conscious experience, or even of painstaking effort. through repetition a pathway of connection has been established between sensory and motor nerve cells, such that consciousness has now little or nothing to do in determining the action. Such a habit is an acquired reflex.

But

But this is only one of the many types of connection which are included under our law. There is the connection between an impression and an idea or a feeling. How many of us have found that in certain situations we are bound each time to think of the same things or to experience the same feelings? There is the connection, again, between one idea and another, such that the first habitually calls to mind its fellow, even though they may have but little logical relation. Like habitual connections become established between ideas and feelings, between ideas and actions, or feelings and actions. The law applies even to the connection between actions and other actions. Simple practice is enough to make habitual and efficient a coordination of muscles which was at first difficult and poorly accomplished. Learning to write, to ride a bicycle, to play basketball or tennis, are examples. We need not study in detail any of these types of habitual connection. The main point is to see how general and universal in application the law of habit is. Any connection, nervous or mental-between impressions, ideas, thoughts, memories, feelings, movements—once made, tends to recur. And in all these cases the established habit tends more and more to drop below the level of consciousness and to become a matter of mechanical nerve-action. This is simply nature's general provision of economy and growth in mental life. As fast as the mind masters a situation, it hands it over to the mechanical care of habit. The mind is thus left free for new and important things; familiar situations and details, through our established habits, take care of themselves.

(2) The second part of the law asserts that the strength of an habitual connection, and consequent probability of its recurrence, depend on three factors. These factors, which may be called the variables of the law of habit, are the frequency, recency and intensity of the connection in past experience.

Frequency. The more often a connection is repeated, the stronger it becomes. Speaking figuratively, the pathway over which the nervecurrent goes becomes more deeply worn. Every time you think or act, you fix more definitely your habits of thinking or acting.

Recency. Other things being equal, that connection will recur which has been most recently made. I heard just now the bell of a locomotive, and there flashed into mind the thought of last Monday's journey. It has not been a very frequent one; but it was the most recent connection with a locomotive that had place in my store of experiences. The pathways tend to become obliterated in time unless they are freshly traversed now and then.

Intensity. A connection that has been made with force or intensity will be more likely to recur than one lacking in original strength. When two things have been connected in experience under stress of some emotion, or with the strain of effort to overcome obstacles, or in the full glare of voluntary attention, their connection is more likely to persist. This factor of intensity covers a wide range of experiences, from a child's aversion to some dainty that has made it sick to the awful distinctness with which some scene of sudden disaster is burned into the mind. A pathway stamped hard and deep, if only once, is apt to remain.

3. The illustrations just used make it plain that the applications of the law of habit may be roughly divided into two groups. Sometimes it deals primarily with ideas, and sometimes with actions. We can form habits of thinking and habits of acting. In its application to thinking, the law of habit lies at the foundation of what is called the association of ideas.

tracing out the links of associaYou have found yourself think

We have all had the experience of tion which called some idea to mind. ing of some person or event, humming some tune, or repeating some snatch of poetry; and you have said to yourself, "Now, what made me think of that?" And setting yourself to work to recall the course of your reverie, you have been able to see how one thing led to another, till finally there was called up the thought which surprised you.

The general principle of association may be formulated in two propositions. First, no idea comes up for use by the mind without being called up by some sensation or other idea. Second, no sensation or idea leaves the mind without trying, at least, to call up some idea from past experience.

This general principle, however, raises the question: What particular idea will a given sensation or idea call up? It will call up something either that has actually been connected with itself in past experience, or that is similar to itself, whether before connected or not. There are therefore two types of association. Association by contiguity takes place when an idea comes to mind because of its past connection with another, as when, thinking of a certain man, I am reminded of Mackinac Island, where I met him. Association by similarity takes place when an idea comes to mind because of some point of likeness between it and another, as when a total stranger reminds me of some friend.

It is evident that association by contiguity is simply one aspect of the

working of the law of habit. The thought of worship calls up my home church rather than any other because of the factor of frequency. Speak of music, and I will think of the last oratorio in which I sang. The sound of the fire bell always brings to mind the night when a whole city block burned around our home, because of the intensity with which that experience impressed itself upon my childish mind.

Association by similarity seems different. One idea may call up another that has not previously been connected with it, provided the second is like it in some point. The simplicity and earnestness of the Christian life reminded Paul of the athletic games at Corinth—“I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air." Yet this type of association, too, is dependent upon the law of habit. It involves two factors: first, that some single characteristic of the first thing thought of stands out and catches the attention; second, that this single characteristic calls up something with which it has been connected in the past, The second of these factors, it is evident, is nothing more than association by contiguity. Even in our most novel and original associations, therefore, we are dependent upon the resources which experience has put at our command. man had never seen athletic games, simplicity and earnestness might stand out as fundamental characteristics of Christianity with all the clearness that they did for Paul, yet he would not be reminded of such a contest.

If a

So we see why the law of habit may well be regarded as the widest and most fundamental of all laws of the mind. Since it has so large a part in determining what ideas shall come before the mind, it underlies everything that is done by intellect and will. We all know that one's past experience determines his ways of looking at things, of thinking and acting. In perception, in memory, in reasoning and in willing, we are dependent upon the laws of association.

4. The law of habit thus determines our actions indirectly, by first determining what ideas will present themselves to the will. But it also may determine actions directly and mechanically, without the intervention of ideas. When we think of this aspect of its work, a fourth variable may be added-that of result. An action that has resulted successfully or pleasurably tends to recur; one that has resulted badly or disagreeably tends not to be done again. The chick that has pecked at some distasteful morsel will soon, by the mere working of habit, leave it alone. The burnt child fears the fire, even if it may not call up any definite ideas concerning the past unpleasant experi

ence.

We are all familiar with the characteristics of an action that has become a habit, as contrasted with one that is determined by ideas. The habitual action is performed with more speed and accuracy and with less fatigue. It is done without conscious attention, and the mind is left free to concern itself with other things while the action goes on. As I write just now, my mind is busy with the ideas I wish to express, while the work of writing, with all the intricate coordination of muscles it involves, is taken care of mechanically by my nervous system. I do not pay the slightest conscious attention to the problem of how to form the letters or how to make my fingers work together. I simply have my thought and will to write it-then habit does the rest. Habit is the executive of my ideas.

5. It is hard to overestimate the importance and value of the law of habit. It is true that comparatively few of our actions are merely mechanical-matters of unconscious habit and nothing more. Most actions are in some degree controlled by ideas. But the mechanical factor is always there. In every action that is determined by ideas habit has at least two functions: first, as law of association it brings the ideas themselves before the mind; and second, as executive it carries out the details of action once the ideas have decided what to do. It is evident that many an action is pretty completely caused by habit, even when the doer thinks that he has consciously chosen it in perfect freedom. The drunkard never thinks that he is in the grip of an all-powerful habit. He imagines each time that he is freely choosing to drink, and that he can stop whenever he pleases; yet his action is as absolutely determined by habit as that of the man who goes by daylight into his bedroom and switches on the electric light as he enters the door.

The practical conclusion is obvious. The problem we all face is that of using the law of habit so that it will help instead of hinder the right moral and intellectual growth. As Professor James puts it:

"The great thing in all education is to make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy. It is to fund and capitalize our acquisitions, and live at ease upon the interest of the fund. For this we must make automatic and habitual, as early as possible, as many useful actions as we can, and guard against the growing into ways that are likely to be disadvantageous to us, as we should guard against the plague."

Note the insistence, "as early as possible." The reasons are plain. If we do not begin right habits early, we shall all the time be growing

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