Chronicle of Higher Education
4/11/2003, Vol. 49 Issue 31, pB20
"Teaching the Mind Good Habits"
Sam Wineburg |
Smoking is a habit. Even the most
hardened smoker had to take a first drag, sucking into the lungs a noxious
cloud that scorched the unsuspecting alveoli and produced an uncontrollable
cough. For many people, what began as a bizarre and exotic behavior becomes
second nature, and they light cigarettes on rising in the morning, pouring a
cup of coffee, relaxing at lunch, or unwinding after work.
Habits of
mind aren't exactly the same, of course, but there are similarities. At some
point in our lives, each part of the intellectual process demanded our full
concentration. But once learned (or, more precisely, once mastered), our mental
habits became so automatic that they faded from view. |
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"Teaching the Mind Good Habits"
Sam Wineburg |
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Researcher Sam Wineburg reports
that mental habits are much like physical habits in that once they are a part
of someone's nature, they are forgotten. He uses the example of smoking to
illustrate that before a habit beomes a habit, it takes effort and forethought.
After something is a habit, a person does it without thinking about it. Once
you see mental habits in the same way as physical habits, it becomes clear that
breaking bad mental habits, like thinking negatively, may need as much
attention and effort as quitting smoking. 4
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