BAD Choices

If cigarettes, gambling, those last 10 pounds, that credit card
habit and theone drink too many are standing in between you and your
goals, this new formula may finally make the difference. And the good
news is, it's all in your hands.

As the police car pealed out behind Lynn with its lights blinking
in her rearview mirror, she remembered with dread that second glass of
wine she drank just before leaving the party. Her heart raced as she
considered the implications of getting a DWI ticket. She had been
preparing to leave the party and knew she had to drive home, so why did
she indulge?

Most of the bad choices we make in our lives involve an immediate
reward--in Lynn's case, the taste and feel of the extra glass of wine.
Like Lynn, we often choose to live now even though we're likely to end up
paying the price later. This carpe-diem philosophy becomes even more
powerful when the punishment is not a sure thing. In Lynn's case, the
probability of her being pulled over by the police was not very high. If
she had expected them to stop her, she might have reached for a ginger
ale.

Our day-to-day bad choices have alarming results. For example,
one-third of Americans are overweight, costing the U.S. government $100
billion each year in treatment of related illnesses.

We're also steeped in debt:

The Consumer Federation of America calculates that 60 million
households carry an average credit card balance of $7,000, for a total
national credit card debt topping $455 billion. Our failure to make
sacrifices now for rewards later is particularly devastating when it
comes to following prescribed medical regimens. Studies have found that
only half of us take antidepressants, antihypertensives, asthma
medications and tuberculosis drugs as prescribed. Such lack of compliance
is the major cause of hospital admissions in people who have previously
had heart failure, and it's entirely preventable.

Our desire to take the path of least resistance is so strong that
we continue our sometimes destructive behavior even though we know, as in
the cases of smoking and overeating, it literally may kill us. But we
don't need to be slaves to instant gratification. Consider the ways we
already suffer in the present for reward in the future: We get tetanus
shots to protect against lockjaw and use condoms to reduce the risk of
sexually transmitted diseases; we have money taken out of our paychecks
for retirement, and parents routinely make sacrifices for their
children's future. The key to breaking a bad habit and adopting a good
one is making changes in our daily life that will minimize the influence
of the now and remind us of the later. It sounds difficult, but new
tricks make it possible.

A look at the animal kingdom reveals clues as to how this is done.
Working in a laboratory with pigeons, Howard Rachlin, Ph.D., of the State
University of New York at Stony Brook, found that when birds were given a
simple choice between immediate and delayed reward, they chose the
immediate reward 95% of the time. This was true even though the delayed
reward (food) was twice the size of the immediate one.

Then researchers made the task more complicated, giving birds the
chance to choose between 1) the same immediate and delayed options as in
the first part of the study, or 2) a no-option condition in which they
were only allowed access to the delayed reward. This situation is
analogous to the choice between going to a gym where you have the option
of relaxing in the sauna or hopping on the stationary bicycle, and going
to a gym that has only exercise equipment--giving you no option but to
exercise once you get there.

As the researchers increased the amount of time birds had to wait
after selecting between the two alternatives, the birds increasingly
chose the second option, to have only the delayed reward available. In
this way, the researchers effectively altered the birds' environment to
minimize the value of the immediate choice.

BREAKING A BAD HABIT

We can apply the same logic to help us break our bad habits: We
need to 1) minimize or avoid the immediate reward, and 2) make the
long-term negative consequence seem more immediate.

My friend John, for example, relies too much on his credit card.
When the lunch bill comes, he charges the total tab and pockets his
colleagues' cash. You may not know John, but I bet you know that he
doesn't rush to the bank and deposit that money.

John needs to avoid the immediate positive effect of using his
credit card. The most logical step would be to leave it at home--except
that he might need it for travel or emergencies. John's best bet would be
to do a little preplanning: He could stop by the bank after work to make
sure he had enough money for the next day's lunch. Or he could locate an
ATM near the restaurant to make it more convenient--and therefore more
likely--for him to withdraw cash.

As a reminder of that big scary negative at the end of the month,
John could paste his latest credit card bill near his computer, on the
refrigerator or someplace he will see it every day. He might also tape
the amount he owes to the face of the credit card. These nearly
effortless gestures will make it hard for John to readily ignore his
problem and help him bridge the gap between now and later.

STARTING A GOOD HABIT

You might be eager to start eating healthy meals, getting regular
exercise or making new friends. Most likely, the going will be tough at
first, but the potential long-term benefits are well worth it. Once
again, the idea is to minimize the immediate--a negative this time--and
bridge the distance to the future, the good stuff.

For the past couple of months, I have been trying to get myself to
drink a small glass of soy milk every day Each week I buy a carton of soy
milk and after two weeks, I dump it down the drain. I have convinced
myself that I need to drink soy milk for the protein and the long-term
health benefits. But somehow, the immediate negative of drinking the milk
(and even thinking about drinking the milk!) has been seemingly
impossible to overcome.

What would help lessen the yuck of soy milk? I tried drinking it in
my favorite special cup. That helped a little, but not enough. My new
strategy is to mix half a cup of soy milk with regular milk. Every day I
drink the soy milk I put an X on my calendar for that day, which makes me
feel accomplished and helps me associate drinking the soy milk with a
positive consequence. And to make the long-term benefits more immediately
apparent, I tore out magazine articles that tout the health benefits of
soy and taped them to my refrigerator.

WHEN OLD HABITS DIE HARD

It's never very easy to change, but for some people, it is
exceptionally difficult. Twenty-two-year-old Jimmy is a good example.
Jimmy's arms are bruised and scarred from his heroin habit. For him, the
immense immediate pleasure of heroin far outweighs the long-term
consequences of his habit: tuberculosis, lack of money and the inability
to hold down a job.

You might not think you have anything in common with Jimmy--or a
compulsive gambler or a kleptomaniac. But researchers are beginning to
recognize that all of these behavioral patterns involve, to varying
extents, maximizing immediate consequences despite huge negative
long-term ones.

To find out if some people are more prone to favor the here and now
than others, the University of Missouri's Alan Strathman, Ph.D., and his
colleagues conducted surveys in Missouri and California. They asked
survey participants how much they agreed with statements such as "I
consider how things might be in the future and try to influence those
things with my day-to-day behavior," and "Convenience is a big factor in
the decisions I make or the actions I take." Strathman found that
individuals did indeed have varying degrees of what he calls "future
orientation"--preference for delayed consequences--and that this
orientation remains stable over time. The individual differences were
reflected in general health concerns and in environmentally friendly
behaviors such as recycling.

The good news is that the behavioral change strategies can work
just as well for people who tend to favor the here and now. They don't
require special genes or exceptional chemistry. They are very simple and
that's their beauty. Time and again, they have been used successfully to
help people overcome problems from obesity to sulking to failing grades.
These simple strategies are effective because behaviors are mostly
learned and therefore, can be unlearned. They can take us off autopilot
and introduce ideas (namely, long-term consequences) that we normally
wouldn't consider. Even if we have focused on the short-term all our
lives, these strategies can help us maximize our chances of
success.

PT's Good-Choice Guide

Legend for Chart:

A - BEHAVIOR

B - NOW

C - LATER

D - STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE

A

B

C

D

BAD Choices

Overeating

Food tastes good, is comforting

You get fat, unhealthy; suffer lowered

self-esteem

Only snack when sitting at the table--never

in front of the TV; keep inspiring

picture or story on the fridge or

cupboard; calculate how long it would

take to burn off the calories of what

you're about to eat

Eating fast food

Quick; easy; tastes good

Too much fat; not nutritious; not healthful

Identify health-food places close to home; locate

low fat/calorie menu items

Anger

Temporary relief

Problems interacting with others

Apologize immediately for getting

angry; reward yourself for situations

in which you avoid anger

Constant complaining

Sympathy from others

Viewed negatively; social repercussions

Tell friends to change topics when

you start complaining

Smoking

Pleasure from cigarette

Lung cancer; possible death

Confine smoking to one designated

area (preferably one you don't like);

keep a day calendar in your cigarette

cupboard and rip off a day for every

cigarette pack you open to symbolize

days off your life

Gambling

Occasionally win money

Lose money over the long term

Donate all winnings (preferably to a

cause you dislike); keep track of

losses, place them prominently;

consider ways you could have

spent the money you lost

GOOD Choices

Healthful eating

Extra effort; taste not as good

Good health; reduced chance of

many diseases

Reduce effort by buying preprepared

healthful foods or by preparing them

over the weekend; dine with a friend

who shares an interest in healthy

eating

Saving money

Less money to spend now

Avoid interest charges

on loans or credit cards;

can afford larger or

more meaningful items

Have automatic deductions taken out

of your paycheck

Using condoms

Some say less pleasurable sex

Prevent AIDS, sexually

transmitted diseases, pregnancy

Always keep condoms handy; use

other techniques to enhance sex;

donate money to AIDS causes

Going to the dentist

Painful, scary

Avoid further pain of

root canals, existing cavities

Find a friendly dentist; schedule

appointments at the same time as

a friend; give yourself a small

reward each time you go

Exercising

Extra effort; give up relaxation time

Improved circulation; reduced risk of disease;

weight loss; increased

energy; greater self-esteem

Move near a gym; buy weights or

a bike; after a workout, write down

how good you feel and read it next

time you are in a slump

Overcoming shyness

Disruption of "safe" pattern of behavior

More friends and social activities

Start by prolonging a conversation

someone starts with you and make

it a habit

ILLUSTRATION (COLOR)

FURTHER READING

Self-Help Without the Hype, R. Epstein (Performance Management
Publicatins, 1997)

Self-Directed Behavior: Self-Modification for Personal Adjustment
(seventh edition), D.L. Watson and R.G. Tharp (Books/Cole, 1996)

Managing Everyday Problems, T.A. Brigham (Guilford Press,
1988)

Adapted by Ph.D.

Mary Ann Chapman earned her Ph.D. in experimental psychology from
Washington State University in 1994. She is a scientific communications
writer in southern California.