Integrating neuro-psychological habit research into consumer choice models

Abstract

We discuss how habit is defined across disciplines that study human choices. In particular, we examine the role of learning in forming habits, the roles of automaticity, context and cues, limited attention/consideration, and whether habits reflect a change in preferences or a choice system which is partly decoupled from preferences. These constructs are used to create a framework for economics, psychology, and marketing research that is suitable for the analysis of consumer choice experiments and field datasets.