What Is Self-Monitoring?

Self-monitoring is a technique which cognitive behavioral

therapists almost always teach their clients. It is a form of
data-gathering in which clients are asked to
systematically observe and record specific targets such as
their own thoughts, emotions, body feelings, and
behaviors.
It involves being aware of your behavior and the impact it has on your
environment. It also refers to your ability to modify your behaviors in
response to environmental, situational, or social variables.

People who are high in self-monitoring are more likely to change their
behavior in order to adapt or conform to the situation. Those who are
low in self-monitoring tend to behave in accordance with their own
internal needs and feelings.

For example, a depressed client might be asked to record

information about situations where their mood felt
particularly low, a client recovering from an addiction
problem might record what they were doing and thinking
just prior to using substances, or a client suffering from
post-traumatic stress disorder might complete a diary to
record details of their trauma flashbacks. One aim of CBT
is to help people to understand how what they think and
do affects the way they feel. The process of self-
monitoring can help clients better appreciate the links
between situations, thoughts, emotions, body sensations,
and their responses. Self-monitoring can provide a simple
means to track client progress (e.g. measuring the
frequency and intensity of intrusive thoughts over the
course of therapy) as well as readiness for different
stages of a treatment intervention (e.g. the introduction
of cognitive restructuring or behavioral experiments).
Although self-monitoring is conceptually fairly simple, it
is often challenging for clients to conduct effectively
(Korotitsch & Nelson-Gray, 1999).
Self-monitoring is a practice in which clients are asked to
systematically observe and record specific targets such as
thoughts, body feelings, emotions, and behaviors. It is part of a
wider practice of empiricism and measurement that is integral
to CBT (Persons, 2008), and it functions as both an assessment
method and an intervention. Self-monitoring is comprised of
two parts – discrimination and recording.
Self-monitoring is ubiquitous across CBT, with “self-monitoring procedures… described
and recommended within most empirically supported treatments”

CBT is an open (non-mysterious) therapy in which the client is an active participant, and
where the goal is to help clients to develop skills to manage or overcome their
difficulties. Self-monitoring is a straightforward way to introduce clients to the concept of
active participation in therapy, and it supports clients’ engagement and motivation by
fostering a sense of self-control and autonomy.
Social Psychology
Social psychologists explore the power of thought and perception to shape action and cement
emotional connections. William Shakespeare provided one of the earliest known examples of an
insight worthy of a social psychologist in his most psychologically complex play,

What is social psychology? It is a scientific exploration of who we are, who we think we are, and
how those perceptions shape our experiences as individuals and as a society.

Social psychology is one of the broadest and most complex subcategories of psychology because
it is concerned with self-perception and the behavioral interplay among the individuals who
make up society.

Today, researchers and academics examine nearly every aspect of human existence through a
psychological lens. The American Psychological Association (APA) lists 15 subfields of
psychology, including clinical psychology, brain and cognitive psychology, developmental
psychology, and quantitative psychology.

Social psychology is the study of how individual or group behavior is influenced by the presence
and behavior of others.

The APA defines social psychology as “the study of how an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and
actions are affected” by other people, whether “actual, imagined, or symbolically represented.”

In seeking the answer to that basic question, researchers

conduct empirical studies to answer specific questions such as:
 How do individuals alter their thoughts and decisions
based on social interactions?
 Is human behavior an accurate indication of personality?

 How goal oriented is social behavior?

 How does social perception influence behavior?

 How do potentially destructive social attitudes, such as

prejudice, form?
For example, have you ever noticed you act and think differently
among people you know than you do among strangers? Have
you ever wondered why that is? Social psychologists spend their
careers trying to determine the answers to questions like these
and what they might mean.

 Sociology is “the science of the origin, development, structure,

and functioning of groups.”
 Social psychology is “the study of the [individual psychological]
origins involved in the development, structure, and functioning of
social groups.”
By Gordon Allport’s classic definition, social psychology is the scientific
attempt to understand and explain how the thought, feeling, and
behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or
implied presence of others (Allport 1954). This definition has been
influential and instructive for researchers’ partitioning of the field at
many stages of its development from the earliest defining works of Ross
and McDougall in 1908 through the conceptual and methodological
pluralism of contemporary researchers.

Social psychology is the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings,

beliefs, intentions, and goals are constructed within a social context by the actual
or imagined interactions with others.
It, therefore, looks at human behavior as influenced by other people and the
conditions under which social behavior and feelings occur.

Bandura (1963) Social Learning Theory

Bandura introduced the notion that behavior in the social world could be
modeled. Three groups of children watched a video where an adult was
aggressive towards a ‘bobo doll,’ and the adult was either just seen to be doing
this, was rewarded by another adult for their behavior, or was punished for it.

Children who had seen the adult rewarded were found to be more likely to copy
such behavior.
Festinger (1950) – Cognitive Dissonance
Festinger, Schacter, and Black brought up the idea that when we hold beliefs,
attitudes, or cognitions which are different, then we experience dissonance – this
is an inconsistency that causes discomfort.

We are motivated to reduce this by either changing one of our thoughts, beliefs,
or attitudes or selectively attending to information that supports one of our
beliefs and ignores the other (selective exposure hypothesis).

Dissonance occurs when there are difficult choices or decisions or when people
participate in behavior that is contrary to their attitude. Dissonance is thus
brought about by effort justification (when aiming to reach a modest goal),
induced compliance (when people are forced to comply contrary to their
attitude), and free choice (when weighing up decisions).

Evaluation
Strengths
Social psychology provides clear predictions. This means that explanations can be
scientifically tested and supported with evidence.

Emphasizes objective measurement

Many experiments support theories

Limitations
Underestimates individual differences

Ignores biology (e.g., testosterone)

Provides only “superficial snapshots of social processes” (Hayes, 1995)