Instructor as Subject: An Alternative to the Self-Management Project

Many psychology programs include a course on learning and behavior theories, and a frequent assignment used in these courses is a self-management project, where students select a behavior for change, develop strategies to change the behavior, and self-monitor the behavior across baseline and treatment conditions. This assignment has several benefits, such as effective behavior change; however, data indicate students are often dishonest about their implementation of strategies and behavioral outcomes, and the generalization of these experiences to further applications of behavior change, such as changing others' behavior, has not been evaluated. The purpose of the current project was to develop and evaluate an alternative to the self-management project. This article describes the planning, implementation, and outcomes over two iterations of an assignment where students engaged with behavior change strategies, but with the instructor as the subject rather than the self. A comparison is made to traditional self-management projects. Data indicate students enjoyed both projects and that both projects resulted in desired behavior change. Preliminary evidence suggests the alternative project is as effective as the self-management project at producing desired behavior change. Students reported similar preferences but no differences in data falsification across projects.