The psychology behind why we're so bad at keeping New Year's resolutions

Mainstream Mental Health Radio

It's a new year, and many people will be wanted to turn over a new leaf. That's what New Year's resolutions are for — to make improvements to our lives in some way. But they are really hard to stick to. In fact, according to one statistic, 80% of us will fail by the second week of February. A valiant effort. A study from 2016 published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, a scientific journal, investigated New Year's resolutions, and found that 55% of resolutions were health related, such as exercising more, or eating healthier. About 20% were to do with getting out of debt. These are tricky things to do at any time of the year, let alone in the month after the holidays. The study, led by Kaitlin Woolley from Cornell University and Ayelet Fishbach from the University of Chicago, found that participants believe that both enjoyment and importance are significant factors in whether they stick to their resolutions. In fact, the researchers found that it was just the enjoyment factor was the only thing that mattered. In other words, if the participants were getting immediate rewards from their new habits, they would be more likely to stick to them. Mainstream Mental Health: http://www.mainstreammentalhealth.org/