(e.g., rules and mores of home, school, country, and
other cultural contexts) components that supply
the sustenal imperatives (Grubbs, 1980; Holaday,
1997; Johnson, 1990; Meleis, 1991).
Wholeness and Order
The developmental analogy of wholeness and order
is continuity and identity. Given the behavioral sys-
tem’s potential for plasticity, a basic feature of the
system is that both continuity and change can exist
across the life span. The presence of or potentiality
for at least some plasticity means that the key way
of casting the issue of continuity is not a matter of
deciding what exists for a given process or function
of a subsystem. Instead, the issue should be cast in
terms of determining patterns of interactions
among levels of the behavioral system that may
promote continuity for a particular subsystem at a
given point in time. Johnson’s work infers that con-
tinuity is in the relationship of the parts rather than
in their individuality. Johnson (1990) noted that at
the psychological level, attachment (affiliative) and
dependency are examples of important specific be-
haviors that change over time while the representa-
tion (meaning) may remain the same. Johnson
stated: “[D]evelopmentally, dependence behavior
in the socially optimum case evolves from almost
total dependence on others to a greater degree of
dependence on self, with a certain amount of inter-
dependence essential to the survival of social
groups” (1990, p. 28). In terms of behavioral system
balance, this pattern of dependence to independ-
ence may be repeated as the behavioral system en-
gages in new situations during the course of a
lifetime.
Stabilization
Stabilization or behavioral system balance is an-
other core principle of the JBSM. Dynamic systems
respond to contextual changes by either a homeo-
static or homeorhetic process. Systems have a set
point (like a thermostat) that they try to maintain
by altering internal conditions to compensate for
changes in external conditions. Human thermoreg-
ulation is an example of a homeostatic process that
is primarily biological but is also behavioral (turn-
ing on the heater). Narcissism or the use of attribu-
tion of ability or effort are behavioral homeostatic
processes we use to interpret activities so they are
consistent with our mental organization.
From a behavioral system perspective, homeor-
rhesis is a more important stabilizing process than
is homeostatis. In homeorrhesis, the system stabi-
lizes around a trajectory rather than a set point.
A toddler placed in a body cast may show motor
lags when the cast is removed but soon shows age-
appropriate motor skills. An adult newly diagnosed
with asthma who does not receive proper education
until a year after diagnosis can successfully incor-
porate the material into her daily activities. These
are examples of homeorhetic processes or self-
righting tendencies that can occur over time.
What we as nurses observe as development or
adaptation of the behavioral system is a product of
stabilization. When a person is ill or threatened
with illness, he or she is subject to biopsychosocial
perturbations. The nurse, according to Johnson
(1980, 1990), acts as the external regulator and
monitors patient response, looking for successful
adaptation to occur. If behavioral system balance
returns, there is no need for intervention. If not, the
nurse intervenes to help the patient restore behav-
ioral system balance. It is hoped that the patient
matures and with additional hospitalizations the
previous patterns of response have been assimilated
and that there are few disturbances.
Reorganization
Adaptive reorganization occurs when the behav-
ioral system encounters new experiences in the en-
vironment that cannot be balanced by existing
system mechanisms. Adaptation is defined as
change that permits the behavioral system to main-
tain its set points best in new situations. To the ex-
tent that the behavioral system cannot assimilate
the new conditions with existing regulatory mech-
anisms, accommodation must occur either as a new
relationship between subsystems or by the estab-
lishment of a higher order or different cognitive
schema (set, choice). The nurse acts to provide con-
ditions or resources essential to help the accommo-
dation process, may impose regulatory or control
mechanisms to stimulate or reinforce certain be-
haviors, or may attempt to repair structural com-
ponents (Johnson, 1980).
The difference between stabilization and reor-
ganization is that the latter involves change or evo-
lution. A behavioral system is embedded in an
environment, but it is capable of operating inde-
pendently of environmental constraints through the
process of adaptation. The diagnosis of a chronic
illness, the birth of a child, or the development of aCHAPTER 8 Dorothy Johnson’s Behavioral System Model and Its Applications 81