Behavioral Self-Control:

Power to the Person !

MICHAEL J. MAHONEY and CARL E. THORESEN
Stanford University

T he notion of self-control, asso-

ciated with the ideals of free-
dom and self-improvement, is
Vague notions and mysticism,
have dominated our perspectives on
self-control. Unable to fully under-
What are the alternatives to the
Will Power party? If we had lis-
tened to Homer many centuries
strongly embedded in our society. stand how some individuals have ago, perhaps our efforts toward
A free person is one who guides and been able to demonstrate self- understanding self-control would
directs his own actions. He is the control in the face of very trying not have gone so far astray. The
master of himself and his immedi- circumstances, we have called their key to Odysseus' success was in
ate environment. Moreover, we capacity "will power", or have at- recognizing that self-control is
value self-control because of its role tributed their behavior to the influ- integrally bound up with immediate
in the survival of our society and ence of some supernatural entity or environmental considerations. Dur-
culture. One measure of a "civilized" hitherto hidden personality trait. ing the past decade we have again
society is the degree to which its This way of thinking about the learned that an individual's ability
inhabitants direct, maintain, and problem has retarded understand- to control his own actions is a
coordinate their activities without ing and discouraged research by its function of his knowledge of and
external coercion. If more individ- circularity. The person who demon- control over situational factors. A
uals could develop effective self- strates self-control by resisting a rapidly expanding body of evidence
management skills, the need for major temptation, such as the heavy indicates that effective, durable
professional helpers and the num- smoker who quits cold turkey, is methods of self-regulation can be
ber of passive, "you help me" pa- often described as having will pow- established if attention is given to
tients might be sharply diminished. er. How do we know he has will the significant relationships be-
The term "self-control" has power? Well, he quit smoking, tween the person and his environ-
meant different things to different didn't he? Observing a self-regula- ment. Indeed, preliminary studies
people. Its most popular synonym, tive behavior, inferring will power, have pointed toward the possibility
by far, has been "will power" —a and then using the latter to "ex- of creating a "technology" of be-
vaguely defined inner force. Other plain" the former is an all too fre- havioral self-control — a set of pro-
definitions have emphasized per- quent journey in discussions of self- cedures that the individual can
sonality traits or supernatural control. It does not take us beyond learn to use in directing and man-
forces. One of the oldest examples the behavior to be explained. If aging his own internal and external
of effective self-control was re- John's unsuccessful attempt to lose actions (Thoresen & Mahoney, in
ported by Homer in describing the weight can be attributed to his lack press).
travels of Odysseus. To manage the of will power, then we need not The acquisition of these self-
bewitching effects of the Sirens, look any further for causes (or control skills is dependent on the
Odysseus had his oarsmen fill their solutions). The question is whether person's ability to identify patterns
ears with beeswax. To manage him- conceiving of self-control as the and causes in the behaviors to be
self he commanded his men to tie exercise of will is useful in under- regulated—to pick out cues or
him to the mast after warning them standing self-regulatory processes. events that frequently precede over-
not to release him under any cir- To date, the consensus among peo- eating, for example, or to notice
--stances. Instead of beseeching ple who have studied self-control is the consequences that often follow
the gods for aid or admonishing that the volitional approach has smoking. The Greek maxim "Know
himself to exercise his will power, seriously impaired the collection thyself might be paraphrased as
??ysseus altered some important and interpretation of knowledge "Know thy controlling variables."
??vironmental factors. about self-management. Beyond this, a person must know

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 how he can alter the factors that age accurate self-observation. The planning. This involves chan??ng
influence his actions in order to individual who records his own one's environment so that eithei he
bring about the changes he desires. behavior not only becomes more cues preceding a behavior or he
In effect he must become a scientist aware of himself but also receives immediate consequences of it ??re
investigating himself. He begins by both immediate and cumulative changed. Odysseus changed ??
observing what goes on, recording feedback on what he is (or is not) environment, for example, by al??-
and analyzing personal data; he doing. For example, a weight chart ing the antecedent cues for his n??n
learns to use certain techniques to in the bathroom might show trends and by arranging for his own be-
change specific things, such as in weight gain or weight loss (such havior to be controlled when ten p-
thought patterns or his surround- as large increases around weekends tation arose. Often, environmental
ings; and Finally he examines the and holidays) and it might point up planning involves eliminating ??r
data about himself to see whether gradual changes that would other- avoiding situations in which a
the desired change has occurred. wise go unnoticed. Self-recorded choice is necessary. Avoiding ciga-
The assessment part of this model data may also provide significant rette machines, buying only dietetic
is worth discussing further, since information on the rate of occur- snacks, and carrying only minimal
people are not accustomed to being rence of a behavior, its eliciting amounts of money are effective
systematic about observing their cues, and its consequences. Record- ways of controlling smoking, over-
own actions. Attending to the every- ing devices like those mentioned eating, and overspending. Other
day situations where the problem above help make objective self- strategies rely on rearranging envi-
behavior occurs is crucial. What evaluation possible: if my personal ronmental cues. Obesity is often
happens, for example, just before data indicate that I am changing affected by social and physical cues
Carol, the incessant smoker, reaches in a desired direction, then I have that prompt eating in the absence
for another cigarette? The "antece- good reason to feel positive about of physiological hunger. Thus,
dents" or prior events include what myself. many people eat to avoid waste
Carol is thinking, what she is saying The research evidence on self- (particularly in restaurants) or be-
to herself, and perhaps what she is observation seems to indicate that cause a clock tells them to eat. En-
imagining. Prior events also include desired behaviors can often be in- vironmental cues such as a tele-
the physical and social setting: two creased simply by being recorded. vision set, a cookie jar, or a kitchen
friends, a cup of coffee, an ashtray The implications of the data on self- can also elicit eating behavior.
on the table. The immediate conse- observation of undesired behaviors Stuart (1967), in an early study on
quences of having that cigarette are not yet clear. In a recent study, behavioral self-control of overeat-
also demand careful observation, an adolescent girl concerned with ing, showed that individuals trained
in terms of internal reactions as doing better schoolwork in a his- to detect and alter maladaptive eat-
well as the actions of others. Exam- tory class was asked to observe and ing cues significantly reduced their
ining the ABC's—the Antecedents record her studying in class (Bro- weight. This success was attained by
of a Behavior and its Consequences den, Hall, & Mitts, 1971). In one such strategies as restricting eating
— helps reveal what may be con- week this procedure alone increased to a specific and novel room, mak-
trolling the behavior. her studying in class from about 30 ing food cues less salient around
percent of the available time to over the home, and gradually slowing
Behavioral self-control generally the pace of eating.
involves three factors—the specifi- 80 percent, an increase that con-
cation of a behavior, the identifica- tinued after the self-observation This finding has since been
tion of antecedent cues and envi- procedure had been gradually shown to be highly consistent and
ronmental consequences, and the phased out. Self-observation in this applicable to behaviors other than
alteration of some of the antece- study and others can be viewed as overeating. Upper and Meredith
dents and/or consequences. Three a kind of behavioral sensitivity (1970), for example, have reported
major approaches may be identi- training. The systematic recording a successful study on smoking re-
fied, at least one of which has been of a particular action —in this case, duction. They trained smokers to
present in every successful self- studying or not studying — sensi- break longstanding, cue-elicited
control attempt thus far reported. tizes the person to himself. Al- smoking patterns by altering the
though further research is needed to physical cues to smoke. A smoker
determine the most effective types was asked to record his initial daily
of self-observation for specific kinds smoking rate. The average time be-
Becoming Aware of behavior, we may tentatively con- tween cigarettes was then com-
The first strategy is simply self- clude, that the systematic recording puted, and the person was asked to
observation. This means that the of one's own behavior can some- wear a small portable timer. Ini-
person attends to his own actions times have a dramatic effect on that tially, the timer was set to buzz
and records their occurrence in or- behavior. whenever the average intercigarette
der to check up on himself and time elapsed. The smoker was in-
evaluate his progress. As mentioned structed to smoke only after the
earlier, few people are in the habit timer buzzed. By establishing this
of carefully monitoring their own Altering the Environment new environmental cue to smoke,
behavior. The use of golf counters, The second self-control strategy previous cueing situations, such as
diaries, or wall charts can encour- might be labeled environmental the completion of a meal, a con

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6 ER
 vi??ation with a friend, or a stress Whenever he reached for a cigarette covert behaviors: A case study. Behavior
experience, were displaced. Grad- he was instructed to read a positive Therapy. 1971,2.575-78.
u??y, the interval between ciga- self-statement and then reward Mahoney, M.J. & Thoresen, C.E. Contem-
??tes was increased until the fre- porary Perspectives in Self Control. Monte-
himself with a cigarette. A "wild rey. Ca.: Brooks-Cole, in press.
quency of smoking was greatly card" alternated with the other Stuart. R. B. Behavioral control over
refuced. three and required a spontaneous, eating. Behavior Research and Therapy,
These and other studies have original positive self-thought. 1967,5. 357-65.
shown that altering the environment Thoresen, C. E. Behavioral humanism.
The man soon began to generate R & D Memorandum No. 88. Stanford,
c??n help the person modify chronic complimentary self-thoughts with- Calif.: Stanford Center for Research and
and resistant behavior problems. out prior cueing and in the absence Development in Teaching, 1972.
(Mahoney and Thoresen, in press) of smoking stimuli. Gradual fading Thoresen, C. E., & Mahoney. M. J. Be-
of the treatment techniques allowed havioral self-control. New York: Holt,
Rinehan & Winston, in press.
Altering the Consequences the young man to resume a normal Upper, D., & Meredith, L A stimulus-
of Behavior and adaptive life without lengthy control approach to the modification of
The third self-control strategy hospitalization or extended therapy. smoking behavior. Proceedings of the 78th
Several other studies have shown American Psychological Association Con-
might be labeled behavioral pro- vention. 1970, 5. 739-40.
gramming. Here the individual con- that individual programming strate-
centrates on altering the conse- gies can be effective in modifying
quences of his behavior rather than both private and observable be-
havior patterns. Notice to M e a b m
its eliciting cues. Self-reward and
self-punishment, are common ex- An expanding body of literature «ad Subscribers
amples of self-administered thera- is currently adding to our knowl- The American Educational Re-
peutic techniques. Both internal and edge of self-control phenomena. search Association Council ap-
external events can be used as con- New trends in therapy include the proved a new membership and
sequences in this programming. For use of imaginal consequences (e.g., subscription policy effective July
example, self-praise, self-criticism, imaginary rewards and punish- 1, 1972. Memberships and sub-
and pleasant or unpleasant mental ments), the self-control of thoughts scriptions in the Association and
imagery might be used as self- and feelings, and the use of self- to its publications will no longer
administered internal consequences instructions. These trends point up be restricted to calendar year.
for an act. External consequences an intriguing aspect of the area of (January 1-December 31) and
might include special privileges self-control —that it may well pro- academic year (July 1-June 30).
(e.g., allowing oneself to watch a vide grounds for a rapprochement All subscriptions will now be-
favorite television program) and/or between behavioristic and humanis- come effective as soon as proc-
tangible rewards (e.g., clothing, a tic approaches to psychology essed and will extend from that
hobby item, etc.). Private contracts (Thoresen, 1972). Research involv- date for twelve or twenty four
("If I do this, then I get that") ing behavioral analyses of self- months as appropriate. All mem-
are common in individual pro- esteem, for example, seems to have berships will be instituted from
gramming. incorporated both the empirical the date the application is finally
rationale and the personal relevance approved by the Executive Offi-
An illustration of this approach
that have traditionally character- cer, and will extend for twelve
is provided by a case history of a
ized two disparate factions of psy- months from that date. Thus,
schizophrenic young man whose
chology. The term "behavioral hu- subscriptions and memberships
problem behavior involved frequent
manism" would seem to character- requested and received in Sep-
obsessive thoughts about being
ize many seif-control endeavors. tember, 1972, will be instituted
physically unattractive, stupid, and
Continuing research will enlarge that month and will expire Au-
brain damaged (Mahoney, 1971).
our understanding of how behav- gust 31, 1973. Subscribers or
After he had assessed the initial
ioral principles can be applied to members who wish issues of pub-
frequency of these maladpative
self-control. To this end, self-con- lications in print before their
thoughts through self-observation,
trol researchers might appropriately membership or subscription be-
the man was instructed to punish
adopt the slogan "Power to the comes effective may purchase
himself by snapping a heavy-gauge
Person!" them at the regular back issue
rubber band against his wrist when-
ever he engaged in obsessional Notes price of $3 per copy. AERA's
thoughts. When the frequency of •Reprinted with minor alterations from acknowledgment of membership
these thoughts had been drastically R & D Memorandum No. 90. Sanford Cen- or subscription will inform each
ter for Research and Development in Teach- person of the effective date of
reduced, positive self-thoughts were ing, 1972.
established and gradually increased membership or subscription.
by using a cueing procedure paired References Members who have had par-
with self-reward. To "prime" these Broden, M., Hall, R. V., & Mitts, B. The ticular difficulty in getting any of
thoughts, the man was asked to effect of self-recording on the classroom their publications might consider
write down three positive things behavior of two eighth grade students. having issues delivered to their
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. 1971,
about himself on small cards at- 4. 191-200. home address.
tached to his cigarette package. Mahoney, M. J. The self-management of

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