A Review of Some Hypotheses

The literature on self-injurious behavior suggests five major hypotheses concerning the motivation of such behavior: (a) self-injurious behavior is a learned operant, maintained by positive social reinforcement (positive reinforcement hypothesis); (b) self-injurious behavior is a learned operant, maintained by the termination of an aversive stimulus (negative reinforcement hypothesis) ; (c) self-injurious behavior is a means of providing sensory stimulation (self-stimulation hypothesis); (d) self-injurious behavior is the product of aberrant physiological processes (organic hypothesis); and (e) self-injurious behavior is an attempt to establish ego boundaries or to reduce guilt (psychodynamic hypotheses). Data bearing on each hypothesis are reviewed and evaluated. Effective treatment may depend on a recognition of the different motivational sources of self-injurious behavior and the developmental relationships existing among these sources. Animal analogue experiments may provide clues to the motivation of self-injurious behavior in cases in which human experimentation is ethically indefensible.