Behavior modification by self-modeling without subject awareness☆

Self-modeling is a technique for changing behaviors by having subjects observe video recordings of themselves performing those behaviors. Three groups of four subjects were given two weeks' self-modeling of bed-making at different times in a multiple baseline design. For all subjects it was significantly (P<0.01) higher in the four weeks after self-modeling than in the four weeks before. Since subjects were not aware their behavior was expected to change or even that it was being observed, subjects' expectations of a therapeutic outcome could not account for the behavioral increase. Other analyses suggested the increase could not be explained by prior trend of the data, observer expectancy, unknown temporal events, nor the process of making the video recordings for self-modeling.