Does counter-habitual behavior carry psychological costs?

Abstract

Experience sampling studies have shown that people act out of character a lot of the time. These findings have raised the question of potential costs of counter-habitual behavior. The present experience sampling study (N = 242; measurement occasions = 4342) tested, for five behavioral dimensions derived from the Big Five theory, whether self-reported counter-habitual behavior is related to psychological costs in everyday life. The results mostly supported the view that engaging in desirable counter-habitual behaviors is beneficial, though some evidence for counter-habitual costs was found for self-control. Overall, the results suggest that the state-content significance hypothesis better accounts for everyday life behavioral, affective, and self-regulatory processes than the views highlighting the importance of acting according to one’s “true self”.

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