Does counter-habitual behavior carry psychological costs?

• Published in: Journal of research in personality 2021-06, Vol.92, p.104077, Article 104077
• Main Authors: Leikas, Sointu, Kuula, Liisa, Pesonen, Anu-Katriina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Big five; Counter-habitual behavior; Experience-sampling; Personality
• ISSN: 0092-6566; 1095-7251
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jrp.2021.104077

•Desirable counter-habitual behavior does not carry affective or self-regulatory costs.•Behaving in desirable ways is related to better mood and lower fatigue, and mostly unrelated to the use of self-control.•The above is was true for most participants, regardless of their personality trait levels.•Responsible behavior may be an exception to the above described pattern with regards to self-control. 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”.