Self-Directed Behavior: Self-Modification for Personal Adjustment

More than just a self-help book, this Sixth Edition of Watson and Tharp's highly successful text continues to provide readers with step-by-step instructions for carrying out a program of self-modification. As readers experience behavior modification in the laboratory of their own lives, they learn sound scientific principles and coping skills for personal problem solving that will be with them for the rest of their lives. Although the authors deal with specific topic areas such as improving study habits, managing stress, or overcoming depression, the book does not narrowly focus on overcoming specific problems. Instead, it emphasizes behavior modification principles students can apply again and again...Watson and Tharp guide students through exercises for developing skills in self-analysis and provide them with concrete information on how to achieve personal goals. Case reports of their own students' self-change projects and others solicited from users of previous editions provide models for success. In addition, the authors include data from empirical field testing of the text indicating that students in courses using this book have achieved self-change goals at percentages varying from 66% to 84% (e.g., Clements & Beidleman, 1981; Hamilton, 1980; Rakos & Grodek, 1984).

David L. Watson is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and a Charter Fellow of the American Psychological Society. Watson is well known for his work in social anxiety, having developed the original scale to measure it. He has written textbooks in introductory psychology, social psychology, and learning skills. Watson is an enthusiastic world traveler, having visited over 100 countries. He speaks French and Greek, and is a certified master gardener, specializing in xerophytic plants. He divides his time now between Honolulu and Albuquerque.

Roland George Tharp is a distinguished researcher, psychologist, educator, writer, and filmmaker. Over the course of his career he has received repeated recognition for excellence and leadership in every arena of his work. Tharp is professor emeritus of education and psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Hawaii. He is the founding director of the national Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence (CREDE) and the Kamehameha Elementary Education Program (KEEP). His research focuses on human development, psychotherapy, community psychology, education, culture, anthropology, and applied linguistics. Tharp is considered a distinguished researcher, practitioner, and author in the areas of education, educational reform, and the development of sociocultural theory. His work spans more than 40 years.