Why Is Habit Formation Important

Humans rely on habits quite a bit since they allow us to perform many actions in daily life, often simultaneously while doing other things without having to stop and fully concentrate on what we are doing, thus saving us time and energy.

Why is habit forming important?

Not only are habits important. They grow stronger and stronger over time and become more and more automatic. So make sure you have the right ones! Habits are so powerful because they create neurological cravings: A certain behavior is rewarded by the release of “pleasure” chemicals in the brain.

Why do you think habit is important in relation to morality?

Habits allow us to train our passions in the right way, so that we do choose virtue for its own sake and recoil away from vice. This relationship between the passions and virtue first emerges in Aristotle’s statement “we must take as a sign of moral character the pleasure or pain that ensues on acts” (NE II:3, 1104b).