habituation

English

Etymology

From Middle English habituacioun, from Medieval Latin habituātio.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /həˌbɪt.juˈeɪ.ʃən/, /həˌbɪt͡ʃ.uˈeɪ.ʃən/, /həˌbɪt͡ʃ.ʊˈeɪ.ʃən/

  • Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

habituation (countable and uncountable, plural habituations)

1. The act of habituating, or accustoming; the state of being habituated.
   • 1637, Joseph Hall, The Remedy of Prophanenesse‎^[1], section 13, page 179:

     Custome can give a Iurisdiction; neither is there any stronger law than it: The continued use then of any known sinne, be it never so small, gives (as Gersons phrase is) a strong habituation ; and, though it be a true rule, that habits do only incline, not compell; yet the inclination that is wrought by them, is so forceable, that it differs little from violent:

   • 1794, Joshua Rowlin, “The Natural History of Black-Cattle”, in The Complete Cow-Doctor, or, Farmer’s Companion‎^[2], page 43:

     Long habituation to one kind of life and situation, hath given rise to peculiarities, which to many minds seem unaccountable, yet in reality are perfectly reconcilable to the laws of nature.

   • 1851, Herman Melville, chapter 46, in Moby-Dick‎^[3], page 235:

     […] it may have been that he was by nature and long habituation far too wedded to a fiery whaleman’s ways, altogether to abandon the collateral prosecution of the voyage.

   • 1972, Donald Barthelme, “Daumier”, in Sadness‎^[4], page 179:

     It is easy to be satisfied if you get out of things what inheres in them, but you must look closely, take nothing for granted, let nothing become routine. You must fight against the cocoon of habituation which covers everything.

   • 2017, Michael Alvear, The Bulletproof Author:

     Cultivating it on a regular basis improves our attitude towards writing and makes us more resilient. But in order to make it work we have to 'unadapt' to the habituation that familiarity can bring, […]

2. (psychology) The process of becoming accustomed to an internal or external stimulus, such as a noxious smell or loud noise.
   • 2015 August 29, “Decline in the Recovery from Synaptic Depression in Heavier Aplysia Results from Decreased Serotonin-Induced Novel PKC Activation”, in PLOS ONE‎^[5], →DOI:

     Habituation and dishabituation allow for experience-dependent tuning of these reflexes and the mechanisms underlying these forms of behavioral plasticity involve changes in transmitter release from the sensory to motor neuron synapses through homosynaptic depression and the serotonin-mediated recovery from depression, respectively.

Derived terms

• dishabituation
• rehabituation

Related terms

• habituate

Translations

act of habituating, or accustoming

• Bulgarian: свикване (bg) n (svikvane), приучване (bg) (priučvane)
• Czech: habituace f
• Dutch: gewenning (nl) f
• Indonesian: habituasi (id)
• Latin: cōnsuētūdō f
• Polish: habituacja (pl) f
• Russian: привыка́ние (ru) n (privykánije), приобрете́ние привычки n (priobreténije privyčki), приспособле́ние (ru) n (prisposoblénije), адапта́ция (ru) f (adaptácija)
• Spanish: habituación (es) f

French

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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Noun

habituation f (plural habituations)

1. habituation; getting used to