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Habituation theory is the psychological idea that expressive writing causes people to habituate, or become accustomed, to negative thoughts and feelings over time. This theory can be used to logically derive specific hypotheses, such as predicting whether writing about positive or traumatic experiences will improve health.

Habituation Theory

Habituation theory provides practical illustrations for deriving hypotheses. Using the first method—asking if a theory implies an answer to a new question—habituation theory logically implies that writing about positive events will not improve health, because it does not involve habituating to negative feelings. Using the second method—focusing on an unobserved component—a researcher could hypothesize that individuals will show fewer measurable signs of emotional distress with each consecutive writing session by focusing directly on the unobserved process of 'habituation'.

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