Self-Management: A Proposition of Constituent Behaviors Within This Repertoire

Abstract

Self-management is a complex behavioral repertoire present in people’s daily lives across a wide range of contexts. Given its wide scope, it is a topic of interest for various professionals, such as teachers, administrators, healthcare workers, and psychologists, who are often called upon to help individuals develop this repertoire. Despite its relevance to human life, self-management remains under-systematized in behavioral terms. The term “self-management” is often found associated with “self-care,” “self-monitoring,” “self-help,” “problem-solving,” and “self-control,” without a clear understanding of how these concepts relate to one another. The lack of a precise understanding of this repertoire makes it difficult to identify the contingencies that make it up, and therefore, the most appropriate conditions under which this behavior can be taught. Teaching any behavioral repertoire requires the systematization of the behaviors that an individual must be able to present in order to transform the situations they face in life, producing meaningful outcomes for one’s self and the communities one is part of. It is proposed that one technology of teaching that can contribute to a better understanding of how to teach self-management is the Programming of Conditions for the Development of Behaviors (or PCDC, from “Programação de Condições para o Desenvolvimento de Comportamentos”, as it is originally called in Brazil). This teaching technology, grounded in the principles of Behavior Analysis, includes specific processes, such as proposing what behaviors are to be taught before planning, constructing, implementing, and evaluating teaching programs. The present study presents the first phase of PCDC and aims to propose intermediate behavior classes that make up the general class “managing one’s own behavior according to life goals”. Methodological procedures derived from PCDC were used, consisting of a series of steps including: selecting excerpts from sources; evaluating language; deriving behavior components; proposing, organizing, and categorizing behavior classes and their components. Thirty-one articles that contained information on the definition of the concept and behaviors related to self-management were used as sources. Excerpts containing information about antecedent stimulus classes, response classes, and/or consequent stimulus classes were selected, transcribed, and modified in order to name the relations that a person must be able to establish with their environment in order to manage their own behavior. Clear, precise, objective, and concise verbs and complements were used in the naming of behavior classes. A total of 128 intermediate behavior classes were identified and organized into six categories related to: (1) evaluating one’s own behavior, (2) setting goals, (3) planning and (4) implementing change, (5) monitoring, and (6) maintaining one’s progress. Complex behaviors such as selfawareness, self-control, decision-making, and the application of various strategies and techniques to modify and monitor behavior are part of what constitutes selfmanagement. Furthermore, behavior classes related to goal-setting appear to be fundamental for individuals to effectively manage their own behaviors. The results of this study may be useful to a variety of professionals, supporting the development of behavioral technologies for interventions in different contexts and informing the development of the repertoire involved in the investigated general class.