UC Merced Undergraduate Research Journal

Habits and addiction have various commonalities, but there are differences; not just in terms of intensity, but also in how they affect individuals and interact with our motivational processes. While motivation is often a driving force behind the development of habits and addiction there are other factors such as psychological and biological influencers, which have been shown to be deeply tied to the development of addiction and habitual responses. This literature review aims to determine how and in what ways addiction relates to and compare to habits in terms of motivation and goal specific behavior, which also entails looking at factors such as desire and goals.