The Clinical Application of Self-Instructional Training to Other Clinical Populations: Three Illustrations

Abstract

Cognitive strategies as described by Gagné and Briggs are similar to Skinner’s (1968) self-management behaviors. The self-instructional training regimen is designed to teach such cognitive strategies and self-management skills; to teach clients “how” to think. In a number of laboratories an exploration of the potential therapeutic value of self-instructional training procedures with various other clinical populations has begun. Examples of three of these populations are now offered.

A cognitive strategy is an internally organized skill that selects and guides the internal processes involved in defining and solving novel problems. In other words it is a skill by means of which the learner manages his own thinking behavior.... Cognitive strategies have as their objects the learner’s own thought processes. Undoubtedly, the efficacy of an individual’s cognitive strategies exerts a crucial effect upon the quality of his own thought.

—Gagné and Briggs (1974)