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Self-Injurious Behavior

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior

  • 11 Accesses

Synonyms

Deliberate self-harm; Self-injury; Self-mutilation

Definition

Self-injurious behavior (SIB) encompasses the act of intentional harm to one’s body that can result in or have the capacity to cause organ or tissue damage (Sigafoos et al. 2014). Self-injurious behavior consists of a series of repetitive responses that often has no obvious reinforcer (Tate and Baroff 1966). Self-injurious behavior does not account for various ritualized cultural practices like ear piercing. SIB can vary in severity and can be put in a spectrum depending on the extent of injury (House and Cercone-Keeney 2004). SIB is utilized by individuals to temporarily alleviate intense negative emotions. They may also express self-directed anger or may be a notion to seek help from others. Such behaviors may also help avoid suicidal ideation (Klonsky and Muehlenkamp 2007).

Common Forms of SIB

Examples of SIB can include behaviors like skin picking, head punching/slapping, pica (eating inedible objects), teeth...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hofstra University, New York, NY, USA

    Khyati Zala

Authors
  1. Khyati Zala
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Correspondence to Khyati Zala .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Jennifer Vonk

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Hofstra University, Long Island, USA

    Oskar Pineno

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Zala, K. (2022). Self-Injurious Behavior. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55065-7_1295

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