eneral

sychology

Self-monitoring

Self-monitoring, or self-observation, consists of systematically observing one's own behavior. Most people are not entirely aware of the extent to which they engage in various behaviors. When people are provided with the opportunity to observe their own behavior carefully, dramatic changes often occur.

The reasons why self-monitoring alters behavior are not completely understood. The information obtained through careful observation might provide important feedback about the person's level of behavior. The information conveys whether behavior departs from a culturally or self-imposed standard of performance. If behavior departs from an acceptable level, corrective action may be initiated until the level is met (Kanfer, 1977). For example, weighing oneself may provide information that one is overweight and initiate other actions (avoiding snacks, exercising) until the desired weight is achieved. Thus, self-monitoring does not itself alter weight, but rather initiates other behaviors that do.

Self-monitoring may be effective because the act of observation itself may take on reinforcing or punishing properties (Homme, 1965). For example, for the individual who records hours of study behavior or miles of jogging, each hour or mile tallied may provide reinforcement. Although it is not entirely clear why self-monitoring is effective, it has been widely applied as a therapy technique (Kazdin, 1974; Nelson, 1977).

The use of self-monitoring was illustrated in a program with a 25-year-old housewife who complained of obsessive thoughts about cancer of the breast and stomach (Fredrickson, 1975). She was very upset about these frequent thoughts which appeared to have become worse over a six-year period prior to treatment. The client was instructed to monitor the frequency of the obsessive thoughts while at home. Keeping a daily tally of the thoughts was apparently associated with a rapid reduction in their frequency from a high of 13 per day to about 2 per day. The client was instructed to monitor her thoughts in a more detailed fashion by recording the time of the thought, what she was doing at that time, the specific content of each thought, and so on. When this more detailed assessment procedure began, thoughts decreased further. The thoughts did not recur up to four months after treatment.
 

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