Reconsidering the nature and effects of habits in urban transportation behavior

Abstract

This article adds to the growing empirical evidence on the importance of habits in governing human behavior, and sheds new light on individual inertia in relation to transportation behavior. An enriched perspective rooted in Veblenian evolutionary economics (VEE) is used to construct a theoretical framework in order to analyze the processes at play in the formation and reinforcement of habits. The empirical study explores more specifically the synchronic processes strengthening the car-using habit. In addition to underlining the shortcomings of a 'decision theory' perspective to address urban transportation behaviors, we find that synchronic habits can have a significant effect on behavioral inertia. Our results suggest the existence of positive feedback between the development of synchronic habits, qualitative perceptions of driving times, and reinforcement of the car-using habit. The paper points out also that the diachronic dimension of habits would constitute another promising domain for further research on behavioral inertia in transportatio

Recasting the Understanding of Habits for Behaviour-Oriented Policies in Transportation

“…In other words, this means designing the study based on a radically distinct theoretical posture right from the start. This is the rationale of the second study that is discussed in the present paper and which has been thoroughly described in [12]. It is based on a survey which took place in Lyon (France) in 2010.…”

“…The role of habits has been largely acknowledged within transportation studies [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. However, there are many ways to theorise habitual behaviour.…”

“…In contrast with traditional accounts, this paper thus starts from adopting a reversed perspective regarding the interplay between habits and rationality [16]. As explained more thoroughly elsewhere [12,13,17], this perspective is grounded on the theoretical framework of Veblenian Evolutionary Economics (VEE).…”

“…Section 2 presents the main aspects of the theoretical framework that founds our work. Section 3 discusses the implications of adopting a VEE perspective for analysing the issue of urban transportation through presenting the results of two empirical studies described elsewhere [12,13]. Section 4 then builds on those insights to provide a discussion centred on the notion of habitual practices.…”

Suivre les consommations énergétiques et les déplacements quotidiens sur le temps long

“…En effet, en psychologie sociale les liens entre « intentions » et « comportements » (observables) sont analysés le plus souvent à l'aide d'un dispositif empirique en deux temps qui fait la part belle aux données déclaratives. Ce type de dispositif a tendance à générer de nombreuses « prophéties autoréalisatrices » et les biais générés semblent être non-Une deuxième école de pensée, portée par des disciplines et par des courants très différents, identifie les habitudes comme la principale explication des pratiques quotidiennes (Brette et al, 2014 ;Buhler, 2015a ;Maréchal, 2010). Le processus d'habituation (ex : autour d'un mode de déplacement) se construit dans la répétition d'une pratique qui mène à une intériorisation et une incorporation de « savoir-faire » (ex : savoir lire et écrire des SMS tout en conduisant, bien que cela soit illégal) mais également par mimétisme dans l'entourage social de la personne.…”