Have you ever sat down to watch one episode of a TV show, but then decided to watch just one more and just one more – until you eventually went to bed much later than planned? Or gone out to dinner and told yourself you weren’t going to eat any complimentary chips, only to find yourself eating several handfuls? Or maybe you’ve spent more time than intended checking social media? Or bought an item you knew you didn’t need?

If you’ve experienced any of these situations, then congratulations: You’re a human being. We all have times when we act impulsively.

Impulsive behaviors are actions focused on short-term consequences with little consideration of potential long-term consequences. Although impulsive behaviors are universal, for some people, the behaviors can have negative consequences that interfere with their lives.

Understanding Impulsive Behaviors

Impulsive behaviors are sometimes driven by desires for instant pleasure or excitement, but they are also often attempts to ‘turn off’ emotions that feel unpleasant or distressing. For example, a person may feel sad after a relationship breakup and impulsively drink alcohol or play computer games all night in attempts to avoid or ‘turn off’ the sadness. Having a few drinks or spending the night fighting orcs may not be problematic if it happens a few times, but if someone routinely turns to alcohol or excessive gaming to regulate emotions, she might start experiencing problems with her health, personal life, or career.

What’s more, when people repeatedly respond to emotions or situations by engaging in impulsive behavior – whether reaching for a drink or for a computer game – they are training their brains to automatically associate those emotions/situations with impulsive behavior. This process, called conditioning, can occur even without physical dependence. Understanding how conditioning works can be a step toward breaking free of this pattern.

The type of conditioning described above, called operant or instrumental conditioning, is one way behavior is shaped by short-term consequences.

• For example, if someone gets instant relief from anxiety every time he smokes or overeats, he’s likely to smoke or overeat the next time he experiences anxiety.
• Over time, his brain may build such a strong association between anxiety (the stimulus) and the impulsive behavior (the response) that he may start to automatically react with impulsive behavior when he starts to feel anxious – sometimes with little thought beforehand.
• When he tries to refrain from the behavior, he may begin experiencing strong urges to act impulsively.
• The brain may eventually generalize impulsive responses to other emotions (additional stimuli), to the point that the person may feel urges to act impulsively when experiencing any uncomfortable emotions.
• Of course, the person probably will also experience negative consequences of impulsive behaviors – such as guilt, health issues, or judgment by others. Unfortunately, the brain is more likely to become conditioned by immediate consequences (relief from anxiety) than by delayed consequences, which may occur hours, days, or months later.

In contrast, classical conditioning explains why some circumstances can trigger urges and impulsive reactions even when the person doesn’t necessarily want to change her emotions. You may have heard of Pavlov’s dogs: Pavlov routinely rang a bell right before feeding his dogs until the dogs’ brains connected the sound of the bell (the stimulus) with the food. Eventually, the dogs responded by salivating whenever they heard the bell.

• Just as Pavlov’s dogs learned to associate a bell with food, people’s brains may learn to associate specific people, places, or situations with impulsive behavior.
• For example, if a person routinely eats a hot dog when she’s at a baseball game, her brain may start expecting to have a hot dog whenever she goes to a game. She may buy a hot dog almost automatically with little consideration of whether she’s even hungry.

Through both forms of conditioning, a person who once may have only sporadically engaged in impulsive behaviors might increase both the frequency and intensity of the behaviors over time, until the impulsivity interferes with the person’s life. Such behaviors are especially likely to increase during times of intense negative emotions (in attempts to numb the emotions) or when a person is very busy or stressed, with fewer mental resources to consider long-term consequences. Some people also have additional vulnerabilities to impulsivity due to genetics, temperament, or conditions such as ADHD or borderline personality disorder.

The Good News

None of the above means that you are destined to feel controlled by your impulses for the rest of your life – regardless of conditioning, genetics, or any other vulnerabilities.

So what’s next? Now that you have a better understanding of impulsive behavior, how can you start to overcome it? First, this link includes concrete steps you can take to help catch yourself before acting impulsively and begin to respond with behavior that’s more consistent with your values.

Second, the clinicians at AICT are trained in evidence-based methods of helping people overcome impulsive behaviors. Contact our intake coordinator to schedule a free consultation.

Final Thought

Success doesn’t mean eliminating all impulsive behaviors (everyone engages in at least some impulsive behavior every now and then) – but it does mean gaining enough control so that impulsivity no longer interferes with your life.