What is the 21-day effect
In behavioral psychology, people call the phenomenon that it takes at least 21 days for a person’s new habit or new idea to form and consolidate, which is called the 21-day effect. In other words, if a person’s actions or thoughts are repeated for 21 days, they will become a habitual action or thought.
The formation of habit can be roughly divided into three stages:
The first stage: about 1-7 days. At this stage, the performance is “deliberate and unnatural”, and you need to remind yourself very deliberately.
Second stage: about 7-21 days. This stage is manifested as “deliberate and natural”, but it still needs conscious control.
The third stage: about 21-90 days. This stage is expressed as “inadvertently, natural”, without conscious control.
Causes of the 21-day effect
Why does the 21-day effect occur? What is the main reason? What are the factors that affect it? According to research findings, the main factors affecting the 21-day effect are as follows:
It is the interference of old habits and ideas on the formation of new habits and new ideas. Interference occurs when two habits and concepts have great similarities in form, but some of these factors require opposite content. For example, there are great similarities between teaching and educating people and guiding learning and educating people. They both require teachers to make the ideas and behaviors of educating people. However, the methods of teaching and guiding learning are quite different, and even essential. Therefore, the formation of new ideas and habits of guiding learning and educating people will often be influenced and interfered by teaching and educating people. Practice has shown that the more old habits and ideas are consolidated, the more easily the formation of new habits and new ideas will be disturbed. Therefore, learning a new habit or new idea under the interference of old habits and ideas will often make some stubborn mistakes. These mistakes come from elements in old habits and ideas. It can be seen that it takes 21 days to form a new idea or new habit (or repeat 21 times), which is closely related to the interference of old habits and old ideas. This can also be said to be the main influencing factor for the 21-day effect.
The second is that the formation of ideas and habits requires a process. This has already been talked about. According to Yi Fajiu’s research, it takes three stages to form. If you use the study of Kelman (1961) in the United States, it also needs to go through three stages. The first stage is compliance. That is to say, accepting new ideas or starting new habits on the surface, and showing as much as possible the new requirements in outward behavior, without any change in substance. At this time, the most vulnerable to external rewards and punishments, because obedience can get rewards, disobedience will be punished. It can be seen that the formation of new ideas and habits is mostly caused by external pressure at the beginning, and spontaneous ones are extremely rare. The second stage is recognition. Recognition is the active acceptance of the influence of new ideas and habits in the mind, which is deeper than obedience. Therefore, the consciousness component is stronger at this time. It is no longer passive and helpless, but actively and consciously changes. Get as close to new ideas and habits as possible. The third stage is internalization. At this time, the new ideas and habits have been completely integrated into oneself, without any discomfort, and the new ideas and habits have been fully utilized. Generally speaking, the three stages of non-specific concepts and habits can be formed in only 21 days. This is the result of a large number of experiments and practices.
Third, the formation of new ideas and habits requires constant repetition, even simple repetition is very effective. The 21-day effect does not mean that a new idea or new habit can be formed after 21 days, but that the new idea or new habit has to be repeated in 21 days to produce an effect. This is the reason why many advertisements are now being broadcast continuously.
Of course, the 21 days mentioned here are for the intermediate level of new ideas and new habits. The formation of low-intensity, simple new ideas and new habits may be formed faster, but strong and complex new ones. Ideas and new habits may be formed more slowly, and these need to be further studied. The nature of new ideas and habits may also have an impact on the time it takes to form. However, it is not yet known how big the impact will be, and it needs to be discussed in depth.
In addition, is the change or fading of old ideas and old habits the same as the formation of new ideas and new habits? Is the mechanism consistent? Not yet known. But one thing is clear. If this old idea or old habit is what we want to change into a new idea or new habit, that is, the relationship between the two is closely related. It should be said that they are synchronized. That is, when it is broken, that is to say, it also takes 21 days to have an effect.
The 21-day effect is too important for school guidance and education. Many of the students’ bad behavior habits and bad misconceptions are difficult to change, and it is difficult to form new ideas and habits. This has a lot to do with our failure to act in accordance with the 21-day effect. Therefore, school teachers should actively apply this law. The following are the countermeasures that should be paid attention to when applying fashion:
First of all, school teachers must know that habits and ideas play a huge role. First of all, school teachers must know that habits and ideas play a huge role. Behavioral science research shows that only about 5% of a person’s daily behaviors are non-ideal behaviors, which are non-habitual behaviors, while the remaining 95% of behaviors are governed by ideas and are habitual behaviors. It can be seen that the role of ideas and habits in a person’s behavior is huge, and this is also a force for success. Therefore, it is extremely important to form good new ideas and habits. Don’t ignore the role of ideas and habits.
Second, school teachers must believe that ideas and habits can be changed and formed. Some of our school teachers often sigh: “Rotten wood can’t be carved”, and they often have the idea that “Hate iron can’t make steel”. A large number of experiments and practices have proved that habits and ideas can be changed as long as they are repeated continuously. Of course, changing ideas and habits will be extremely uncomfortable and extremely reluctant. But in any case, human behavior is based on ideas and habits. If bad ideas and habits are not changed, bad behaviors may occur, and the consequences are of course bad. Therefore, when changing ideas and habits, you should not give up because you are unwilling to feel uncomfortable. If necessary, external pressure must be given, especially at the beginning. As the saying goes: “Everything is difficult at the beginning.” If this shot is fired, subsequent changes will be impossible. Therefore, remember to keep repeating when changing any idea or habit until 21 days, or even more than 21 days. Believe that there are no ideas and habits that cannot be changed. Otherwise, it means failure is coming.
Third, school teachers must follow the law of the 21-day effect when changing students’ ideas and habits, and cannot do it blindly. Therefore, the following three points still need attention. One is to change ideas and habits according to the characteristics of the formation of the three stages; the second is to be patient, the formation of new ideas and habits takes 21 days, or even more days; the third is to continue to focus on these 21 days Repeat the exercises, but never learn.
Kenneth Chu 