Interpretive Paper, Essay Example

The only real way to fight against bad habits and destructive behavior patterns is to impose strategies of self-control. This is depressing news for those of us who wish there was some external method for eliminating bad habits and bad personality traits. However, as Jeffrey Quinn indicates in the article: “Can’t Control Yourself? Monitor Those Bad Habits” (2010) self-monitoring and self-control are the only effective measures of controlling bad habits that can be supported by statistical research.  The article demonstrates that bad habits are innately a function of cues that are stored in memory and therefore, nearly impossible to eradicate in terms of using external methods of censure. Because the memory patterns emerge from within, the kind of stimulus control that can be useful in diminishing the power of temptation is not applicable to controlling bad habits.

This distinction is subtle but very important. For example, the article mentions that “With habits, the simple perception of contextual cues directly activates the cognitive representation of the response” (Quinn, 505). This shows that habits are part of consciousness and are not merely limited to the appearance of specific stimuli. Of course, such an understanding of the way that bad habits and cognition intersect poses tremendous barriers to overcoming habits without the sustained use of self-control and self-monitoring.

One bright spot according to the research described in the article is that bad habits can be overcome. The article notes that “Participants in our studies were reasonably-successful at exerting control over unwanted responses given they used self-control strategies that were tailored to the specific cuing mechanisms that produced the response” (Quinn, 509). While the explanation of the study and statistical breakdown of the results of the study are very technical and complicated, the article reaches a pretty basic conclusion: that bad habits emerge from cues in consciousness as well as external stimuli and that, given this reality, the best way to reduce or eliminate bad habits is through self-monitoring and self-control.

Work Cited

Quinn, Jeffrey. “Can’t Control Yourself? Monitor Those Bad Habits?” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 36(4) 499-5 I I, 2010.