Question: What is the term used to describe the self-management behavior used to incite one’s own behavior change?
Answer: Controlling response.
Self-management is using behavior analytic procedures on one’s own behavior. An individual has to control some or all parts of his own self-management program. And procedurally, self-management is a two-behavior process. The first behavior is called the “controlling response”. These are the behaviors that a person engages in to reduce or increase another behavior— that’s all those self-management behaviors that we use to get the desired behavior outcome— small reminders, environmental manipulations, datasheets, Fitbits, calorie counters, visual supports, and all the stuff that helps you exhibit the correct behavior).
The second behavior in self-management is termed the “controlled response.” This is the target behavior being altered in a self-management protocol; this is the eating less junk food, and exercising more often, and increasing your ABA fluency, completing work tasks, remembering to pay your bills on time, engaging in appropriate social behaviors. Exhibiting self-management means you’ve successfully utilized a controlling response to help you exhibit the desired behavior that controlled response.
Note: Skinner referred to self-management as self-control. It’s an a.k.a. for self-management. The idea behind that is that self-management is actually the self-control that one needs to exhibit in order to engage in their own goal— target behavior. Controlled response and controlling response are terms that came out of that, and the behavior that is controlling your behavior, the controlled behavior is the result. Controlling behavior results in a controlled behavior— self-control.