The books and papers this guide leans on, and what to take from each.
Good Habits, Bad HabitsWendy Wood, 2019The researcher behind chapters 7 and 8, writing for a general reader. Take the idea that the setting, not willpower, does most of the work.
Competition DemystifiedBruce Greenwald and Judd Kahn, 2005The source of the three kinds of captivity. Take its test: a brand counts as an advantage only insofar as it creates habit, search costs or switching costs.
How Brands GrowByron Sharp, 2010The counterweight. Take double jeopardy seriously, and keep first-use work in proportion to acquisition.
SwitchChip Heath and Dan Heath, 2010Where “script the critical moves” comes from. Take the method; leave the ego-depletion explanation.
“Pricing and the Psychology of Consumption”John Gourville and Dilip Soman, Harvard Business Review, 2002The short version of their research on paying and using. Take the idea that the timing of payment shapes the timing of use.
“Implementation Intentions and Goal Achievement”Peter Gollwitzer and Paschal Sheeran, 2006The meta-analysis behind chapter 6. Read it with Carrera and colleagues’ 2018 gym study beside it, for the limits.
And the research: Milkman and colleagues (2011) on plans and flu shots and (2021) on the gym megastudy; Lally and colleagues (2010) on how long habits take; Neal and colleagues (2011) on popcorn; Cepeda and colleagues (2006) on spacing; Wood and colleagues (2016) on the question-behavior effect; Burnham, Frels and Mahajan (2003) and Klemperer (1995) on switching costs. Full references are in Appendix C.