Examination of the Effects of Self-Modeling on Autobiographical Memory

The intent of this preliminary study is to explore the effectiveness of self-modeling in altering maladaptive behavior in children through the mediating effect of modifying their autobiographical memories of their dysfunctional behaviors. We proposed that the alteration of inappropriate classroom behaviors afforded by the selfmodeling intervention would be accompanied by commensurate alteration in the memory of those behaviors and changes in self-concept. The process of a self-modeling intervention capitalizes on a broad range of experimentally confirmed phenomenal and experimental factors and mechanisms involved in memory alteration, providing sufficient cognitive, perceptual, contextual, semantic, and affective information to closely approximate a "true" memory, and facilitate source misattribution, suggestibility, biases, and thereby, memory alteration/implantation. Results of this study provided evidence of autobiographical memory alteration in narrative recall, recollective experience, and self-concept reports following self-modeling intervention. These initial findings support memory alteration as a mediating factor in eliciting behavior change through self-modeling intervention. However, this study should be replicated and expanded to definitively build the research on the relationship between malleability of memory relative to positive behavior changes.