Self-Management

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Self-Management

• Chapter 27

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Self-Management

• The personal application of behavior change
  tactics that produces a desired change in
  behavior
• Examples???
• Why not self-control?

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Applications of Self-Management

• Living a more effective and efficient daily life
• e.g., shopping list
• Breaking bad habits and acquiring good ones
• Baum (2005) impulsivity, bad habits, and
  procrastination result from reinforcement traps
• Immediate but smaller consequences control our
  behavior rather than delayed but more significant
  consequences
• Malott (1984) being able to state a rule about
  the long-term consequences does not always
  control our behavior why?
• Weak rules describe outcomes that are delayed,
  incremental, and/or unpredictable
• Self-management is a way to provide short term
  outcomes that will control behavior when weak
  rules and delayed outcomes do not!

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Applications of Self-Management

• Accomplishing Difficult Tasks
• e.g., thesis, lit review
• Achieving Personal Goals
• e.g., exercise, relaxation

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Benefits of Self-Management

• Can be used to change
• thoughts and feelings
• behaviors that cannot be easily observed by
  others
• behaviors that might go unnoticed by others
• Can be used to promote generalization and
  maintenance of behavior change
• People with diverse abilities can learn
  self-management skills
• Self-selected tasks performance criteria may lead
  to better performance

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Benefits of Self-Management

• Its an ultimate goal of education
• The development of independent, self-directed
  people who are capable of behaving appropriately
  and constructively without the supervision of
  others (p. 583)
• Dewey (1939) the ideal aim of education is the
  creation of self-control
• Expected, but not often specifically taught!
• Benefits society by foregoing immediate
  reinforcers in favor of very delayed outcomes
  (e.g., global warming)
• Helps a person feel free (not bound by immediate
  consequences)

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Self-Management Software for Children

• KidTools and KidSkills
• Developed with partial funding by the DOE OSEP
• Download for free at
• http//kidtools.missouri.edu
• Kidspiration

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Antecedent-Based Self-Management
Tactics

• Manipulating MOs
• Person behaves in a way that creates an MO
• The MO then evokes or abates behavior
• e.g., eating before grocery shopping
• e.g., drinking tea to quit smoking
• Providing Response Prompts

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Antecedent-Based Self-Management
Tactics

• Performing the Initial Steps of a Chain
• e.g., leaving the open bag on the counter
• Removing Items Necessary for an Undesired
  Behavior
• Limiting Undesired Behavior to Restricted
  Stimulus Conditions
• e.g., reducing stereotypy or sexual behavior in
  public
• Dedicating a Specific Environment for a Desired
  Behavior
• e.g., studying with the peach candle

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Self-Monitoring

• AKA Self-recording, self-observation
• Person observes his behavior systematically and
  records the occurrence or nonoccurrence of a
  target behavior
• Monitoring alone can change behavior!
• Can be combined with Self-Evaluation
• Compares performance with a goal or standard
• Can be combined with contrived consequences for
  meeting or not meeting goals
• Why does self-monitoring work?
• Covert statement I did well! self-reinforces
  performance
• Performing below standard produces guilt that can
  be avoided by improving your performance

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Guidelines for Self-Monitoring

• Provide materials that make it easy
• Wrist counters, timers, stop watches
• Simple datasheets
• Provide supplementary cues or prompts
• Tones, MotivAider
• Use more prompts in the beginning and gradually
  decrease
• Self-monitor the most important dimension of the
  target behavior
• Frequency, rate, latency, interresponse time,
  duration
• Productivity more effective and preferred than
  on-task
• Self-monitor early and often
• Record as soon as possible but dont interrupt
  the behavior to do it
• Use permanent products if possible
• Record the first step in the chain if possible
• Monitor more in the beginning
• Reinforce accurate self-monitoring
• Spot check and reinforce accuracy
• But perfect accuracy may not be necessary!

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Self-Administered Consequences

• To Increase Desired Behavior
• Positive Reinforcement
• Examples tokens, points, mins of free time,
  self-recruited SR,
• Negative Reinforcement
• Avoid token loss, paying money, exercise, chores
• To Decrease Undesired Behavior
• Positive Punishment
• Examples snap rubber bands, sit-ups, bad taste
  on nails, overcorrection
• Negative Punishment
• Response cost pay a fine, lose tokens
• Time-out dont allow yourself to engage in a
  behavior for a period of time (e.g., dont talk
  for 2 min)

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Guidelines for Self-Administered Consequences

• Select small, easy-to-deliver consequences
• Set a meaningful but easy-to-meet criterion for
  reinforcement
• Eliminate bootleg reinforcement
• If necessary, put someone else in control of
  delivering consequences
• Keep it simple

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Other Self-Management Tactics

• Self-Instruction
• Self-generated verbal responses, covert or overt,
  that function as response prompts for a desired
  behavior
• e.g., student is taught to say to himself, If I
  wait, Ill get to have _________.
• Habit Reversal
• Self-directed Systematic Desensitization
• Substituting one behavior, usually relaxation,
  for the unwanted behavior, fear/anxiety

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Guidelines for Conducting an Effective
Self-Management Program

• Specify a goal and define the target behavior
• Begin self-monitoring the behavior to obtain
  baseline
• And to observe effects of self-monitoring alone
• Create contrived contingencies that will compete
  with ineffective natural contingencies
• Go public
• Get a self-management partner
• Continually evaluate and redesign program as
  needed
• A-B and changing criterion designs

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http//dick-malott.com/home/