"And conservation of any kind is tough for people to take. It requires losing something, cutting out part of their lifestyles," he said.

That's called loss aversion, and it's hard to overestimate its influence, said David Dunning, psychology professor at Cornell University and executive officer of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

"In making judgments, losses loom much greater than gains," he said.

We are hardwired to focus on avoiding losses more than working towards long term gains. That is why I believe that many suburbanites in the under 40 generation go into tremendous amounts of debt as they enter adulthood. Brought up in a time of peace and relative prosperity we fear losing the creature comforts that we grew up with, a nice home, two cars, TV, big yard, etc. We can't wait to save up for it like our parents, we need it now. We can't take a step backwards and "lose" that way of life while we are building our own wealth.

It's the same with our cars. We'll continue to sacrifice our time, effort, and hard earned money on our cars, even though the cost of operating it will sky-rocket. Take a minute to consider how many hours of the week that you work, just to pay for your car (or however many cars you own). Then think about how many more hours you'll need to work as gas hits $3.50, $4.00, $4.50.

To "break our addiction to oil", we need more than a change in our nation's habits, we need a change in our thought processes, and need to figure out what we are really working "for" as we leave the house each day.
Jim Hossack puts it succinctly:

"That's America's problem," he said.

"Our national policy is one of 'Abundant, cheap energy for all -- but please don't use it.' Why would we conserve?"