Habit vs. Culture — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman & Maham Liaqat — Updated on April 24, 2024
Habit refers to a person's consistent behavior or practice, often performed unconsciously; culture encompasses shared beliefs, values, and practices of a community or society.
Difference Between Habit and Culture
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Habit is typically an individual's repeated behavior, often developed through reinforcement and performed without much conscious thought. While culture represents the collective norms, values, traditions, and symbols shared among members of a specific group or society, influencing their behaviors and perceptions.
Habits can be specific actions such as biting nails or saying "thank you" automatically. Whereas, culture includes broader social practices like celebrating national holidays or adhering to particular dining etiquettes, which are taught and passed down through generations.
A person can change a habit with some effort and self-awareness, focusing on altering personal routines or behaviors. On the other hand, culture is more enduring and less susceptible to change, as it involves the shared beliefs and practices of a larger group, often reinforced over centuries.
Habit formation is generally a subconscious process that may result from personal convenience or psychological comfort. Conversely, cultural practices are consciously taught and upheld within communities to maintain a sense of identity and continuity.
Individual habits can vary widely even within the same cultural context, reflecting personal choices and circumstances. However, culture shapes individuals’ behaviors collectively, providing a common framework within which various habits might be understood and interpreted.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
A repeated, automatic behavior often performed unconsciously by an individual.
The shared beliefs, values, practices, and social behaviors of a particular group or society.
Scope
Individual
Communal
Changeability
Easier to change as it depends on individual will.
More difficult to change, tied to group identity and continuity.
Source
Personal experience and psychological conditioning.
Historical, social, and environmental influences shared among people.
Manifestation
Can be seen in small, daily actions.
Manifests in broad social practices and norms.
Compare with Definitions
Habit
Routine behavior.
She has a habit of checking her emails first thing every morning.
Culture
Shared values.
Their culture emphasizes respect for elders and authority.
Habit
Personal practice.
His habit of jogging before breakfast helps him stay active.
Culture
Common practices.
The festival is an important part of their cultural identity.
Habit
Automatic action.
Without thinking, he adopted the habit of wearing his seatbelt.
Culture
Group identity.
The cultural heritage of the community is celebrated through music and dance.
Habit
Behavioral pattern.
She developed a habit of saving 10% of her paycheck each month.
Culture
Norms and customs.
In her culture, it is customary to remove shoes before entering a home.
Habit
Subconscious activity.
He found it hard to break the habit of biting his nails during meetings.
Culture
Social behavior.
Greeting with a handshake is customary in many cultures.
Habit
A habit (or wont as a humorous and formal term) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously.The American Journal of Psychology (1903) defined a "habit, from the standpoint of psychology, [as] a more or less fixed way of thinking, willing, or feeling acquired through previous repetition of a mental experience." Habitual behavior often goes unnoticed in persons exhibiting it, because a person does not need to engage in self-analysis when undertaking routine tasks. Habits are sometimes compulsory.
Culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Humans acquire culture through the learning processes of enculturation and socialization, which is shown by the diversity of cultures across societies. A cultural norm codifies acceptable conduct in society; it serves as a guideline for behavior, dress, language, and demeanor in a situation, which serves as a template for expectations in a social group.
Habit
A settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up
He has an annoying habit of interrupting me
We stayed together out of habit
Good eating habits
Culture
The arts, beliefs, customs, institutions, and other products of human work and thought considered as a unit, especially with regard to a particular time or social group
Edwardian culture.
Japanese culture.
Habit
A long, loose garment worn by a member of a religious order
Nuns in long brown habits, black veils, and sandals
Culture
These arts, beliefs, and other products considered with respect to a particular subject or mode of expression
Musical culture.
Oral culture.
Habit
A person's health or constitution
A victim to a consumptive habit
Culture
The set of predominating attitudes and behavior that characterize a group or organization
A manager who changed the corporate culture.
Habit
Be dressed or clothed
A boy habited as a serving lad
Culture
Mental refinement and sophisticated taste resulting from the appreciation of the arts and sciences
A woman of great culture.
Habit
A recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition
Made a habit of going to bed early.
Culture
Special training and development
Voice culture for singers and actors.
Habit
An established disposition of the mind or character
A pessimistic habit.
Culture
The cultivation of soil; tillage
The culture of the soil.
Habit
Customary manner or practice
An early riser by habit.
Culture
The breeding or cultivation of animals or plants for food, the improvement of stock, or other purposes.
Habit
An addiction, especially to a narcotic drug.
Culture
The growing of microorganisms, tissue cells, or other living matter in a specially prepared nutrient medium.
Habit
Characteristic appearance, form, or manner of growth, especially of a plant or crystal
"The habit of an apple tree is fine for the small garden" (Robert Dash).
Culture
Such a growth or colony, as of bacteria.
Habit
A distinctive set of clothing or style of dressing, especially of a religious order.
Culture
To cultivate (soil or plants).
Habit
A riding habit.
Culture
To grow (microorganisms or other living matter) in a specially prepared nutrient medium.
Habit
(Archaic) Physical constitution.
Culture
To use (a substance) as a medium for culture
Culture milk.
Habit
To clothe; dress.
Culture
The arts, customs, lifestyles, background, and habits that characterize humankind, or a particular society or nation.
Habit
To clothe in a habit, especially a nun's habit.
Culture
The beliefs, values, behaviour and material objects that constitute a people's way of life.
Habit
An action performed on a regular basis.
It’s become a habit of mine to have a cup of coffee after dinner.
Culture
The conventional conducts and ideologies of a community; the system comprising the accepted norms and values of a society.
Habit
An action performed repeatedly and automatically, usually without awareness.
By force of habit, he dressed for work even though it was holiday.
Culture
(anthropology) Any knowledge passed from one generation to the next, not necessarily with respect to human beings.
Habit
A long piece of clothing worn by monks and nuns.
It’s interesting how Catholic and Buddhist monks both wear habits.
Culture
(botany) Cultivation.
Habit
A piece of clothing worn for a specific activity; a uniform.
The new riding habits of the team looked smashing!
Culture
(microbiology) The process of growing a bacterial or other biological entity in an artificial medium.
Habit
(archaic) Outward appearance; attire; dress.
Culture
The growth thus produced.
I'm headed to the lab to make sure my cell culture hasn't died.
Habit
Form of growth or general appearance and structure of a variety or species of plant or crystal.
Culture
A group of bacteria.
Habit
An addiction.
He has a 10-cigar habit.
Kick the habit
Culture
(cartography) The details on a map that do not represent natural features of the area delineated, such as names and the symbols for towns, roads, meridians, and parallels.
Habit
(transitive) To clothe.
Culture
(archaeology) A recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place that may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society.
Habit
To inhabit.
Culture
(euphemism) Ethnicity, race (and its associated arts, customs, etc.)
Habit
The usual condition or state of a person or thing, either natural or acquired, regarded as something had, possessed, and firmly retained; as, a religious habit; his habit is morose; elms have a spreading habit; esp., physical temperament or constitution; as, a full habit of body.
Culture
(transitive) to maintain in an environment suitable for growth especially of bacteria cultivate}}
Habit
The general appearance and manner of life of a living organism.
Culture
(transitive) to increase the artistic or scientific interest in something cultivate}}
Habit
Fixed or established custom; ordinary course of conduct; practice; usage; hence, prominently, the involuntary tendency or aptitude to perform certain actions which is acquired by their frequent repetition; as, habit is second nature; also, peculiar ways of acting; characteristic forms of behavior.
A man of very shy, retired habits.
Culture
The act or practice of cultivating, or of preparing the earth for seed and raising crops by tillage; as, the culture of the soil.
Habit
Outward appearance; attire; dress; hence, a garment; esp., a closely fitting garment or dress worn by ladies; as, a riding habit.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy.
There are, among the statues, several of Venus, in different habits.
Culture
The act of, or any labor or means employed for, training, disciplining, or refining the moral and intellectual nature of man; as, the culture of the mind.
If vain our toilWe ought to blame the culture, not the soil.
Habit
The distinctive clothing worn commonly by nuns or monks; as, in the late 1900's many orders of nuns discarded their habits and began to dress as ordinary lay women.
How use doth breed a habit in a man!
He who reigns . . . upheld by old repute,Consent, or custom
Culture
The state of being cultivated; result of cultivation; physical improvement; enlightenment and discipline acquired by mental and moral training; civilization; refinement in manners and taste.
What the Greeks expressed by their paidei`a, the Romans by their humanitas, we less happily try to express by the more artificial word culture.
The list of all the items of the general life of a people represents that whole which we call its culture.
Habit
To inhabit.
In thilke places as they [birds] habiten.
Culture
The cultivation of bacteria or other organisms (such as fungi or eukaryotic cells from mulitcellular organisms) in artificial media or under artificial conditions.
Habit
To dress; to clothe; to array.
They habited themselves like those rural deities.
Culture
Those details of a map, collectively, which do not represent natural features of the area delineated, as names and the symbols for towns, roads, houses, bridges, meridians, and parallels.
Habit
To accustom; to habituate.
Culture
To cultivate; to educate.
They came . . . into places well inhabited and cultured.
Habit
An established custom;
It was their habit to dine at 7 every evening
Culture
A particular society at a particular time and place;
Early Mayan civilization
Habit
A pattern of behavior acquired through frequent repetition;
She had a habit twirling the ends of her hair
Long use had hardened him to it
Culture
The tastes in art and manners that are favored by a social group
Habit
(religion) a distinctive attire (as the costume of a religious order)
Culture
All the knowledge and values shared by a society
Habit
Excessive use of drugs
Culture
(biology) the growing of microorganisms in a nutrient medium (such as gelatin or agar);
The culture of cells in a Petri dish
Habit
Put a habit on
Culture
(bacteriology) the product of cultivating micro-organisms in a nutrient medium
Culture
A highly developed state of perfection; having a flawless or impeccable quality;
They performed with great polish
I admired the exquisite refinement of his prose
Almost an inspiration which gives to all work that finish which is almost art
Culture
The attitudes and behavior that are characteristic of a particular social group or organization;
The developing drug culture
The reason that the agency is doomed to inaction has something to do with the FBI culture
Culture
The raising of plants or animals;
The culture of oysters
Common Curiosities
What defines culture?
Culture encompasses the ideas, customs, social behavior, and norms found in human societies.
What is a habit?
A habit is a regular practice or routine that is performed automatically, often without conscious thought.
Is it easier to change a habit or cultural practices?
It is generally easier to change individual habits than cultural practices, which are deeply embedded in society.
How does culture affect behavior?
Culture affects behavior by setting expectations and norms that guide how individuals act within a community.
How does a habit differ from culture?
A habit is an individual's repetitive behavior, while culture involves collective beliefs and practices shared by a community.
What is an example of a cultural practice?
An example of a cultural practice is the Japanese tea ceremony, which is a ritualized form of making tea practiced in Japan.
How is culture transmitted?
Culture is passed down from generation to generation through language, material objects, ritual practices, and institutions.
What role does upbringing play in forming habits?
Upbringing plays a crucial role in habit formation, as children adopt behaviors modeled by parents and caregivers.
Can habits influence culture?
Yes, widespread habits can evolve into cultural practices if they are adopted by a significant portion of the community.
Can someone's culture change?
While an individual can adopt aspects of another culture, core cultural identity is relatively stable but can evolve over time.
Do habits reflect culture?
Habits can reflect underlying cultural values, though they are primarily personal and may vary significantly even within the same cultural setting.
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Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
Co-written by
Maham Liaqat
