CALTECH

Research: There is no magic number for how long it takes to develop habits

The same study looked at how long it takes healthcare professionals to develop the habit of washing their hands: an average of a few weeks. "There is no magic number for habit formation," said Anastasia Buyalskaya, a marketing assistant professor at HEC Paris. Caltech's Colin Camerer, Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioural Economics and director and leadership chair of the T&C Chen Centre for Social and Decision Neuroscience, and researchers from the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania are among the other authors of the study, which appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.