What's good for the goose may not be as good for the gander: The benefits of self-monitoring for men and women in task groups and dyadic conflicts.

The authors posit that women can rely on self-monitoring to overcome negative gender stereotypes in certain performance contexts. In a study of mixed-sex task groups, the authors found that female group members who were high self-monitors were considered more influential and more valuable contributors than women who were low self-monitors. Men benefited relatively less from self-monitoring behavior. In an experimental study of dyadic negotiations, the authors found that women who were high self-monitors performed better than women who were low self-monitors, particularly when they were negotiating over a fixed pool of resources, whereas men did not benefit as much from self-monitoring. Further analyses suggest that high self-monitoring women altered their behavior in these negotiations--when their partner behaved assertively, they increased their level of assertiveness, whereas men and low self-monitoring women did not alter their behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-monitoring and cooperation as a self-presentational strategy.

Investigated the hypothesis that cooperation may occur as a result of strategic self-presentation that is instrumental for increasing personal gain. 149 undergraduates played a decomposed Prisoner's Dilemma game with a bogus partner. The prospect of future interaction with the partner and the discernment of the partner (i.e., contingency in giving approval) were manipulated, and Ss were classified as scoring high or low on a self-monitoring scale. It was hypothesized that high self-monitors would exhibit more variability in cooperative behavior across social contexts and would be more cooperative with discerning partners and partners with whom they anticipated future interaction than would low self-monitors. As predicted, the prospect of future interaction with a partner increased the cooperation of the high, but not the low, self-monitors. Cooperation was not related to attraction for the partner (Interpersonal Judgment Scale) for either high or low self-monitors. Correlates of self-monitoring did not predict cooperation. Results are discussed in terms of individual differences in motives for cooperation and strategic self-presentation. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-monitoring and the attitude–behavior relation.

130 undergraduates responded to 3 questionnaires over a 6-wk period before and after the 1980 presidential election. The questionnaires assessed self-monitoring tendency, attitudes, and intentions with respect to voting in the election and smoking marihuana, and included self-reports of actual behavior. Low self-monitors tended to exhibit stronger attitude–behavior correlations than high self-monitors. There was, however, no difference in the predictability of intentions from attitudes, a finding that disconfirmed the perceived relevance interpretation of the effect of self-monitoring. Instead, the difference was located in the relation between intentions and behavior; low self-monitors exhibited significantly stronger intention–behavior correlations than did high self-monitors. Findings support the interpretation that the 2 types of individuals are equally aware of the implications of their attitudes, but that high self-monitors, being sensitive to situational demands, are less likely to carry out their previously formed intentions than low self-monitors, who are more attentive to internal cues. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Victimization, self-monitoring, and eyewitness identification.

38 undergraduate low self-monitors and 42 undergraduate high self-monitors (as determined by a scale of self-monitoring of expressive behavior) witnessed in small groups a staged crime of either their own wristwatches or a laboratory calculator. Campus police detectives took individual witness statements as if a real crime had occurred, and using biased or unbiased instructions, police administered a suspect-present photospread. Results show that victim witnesses who had been given biased instructions gave the least accurate identifications and that high self-monitoring Ss were least likely to reject the lineup when instructions were biased. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The ripple effect of personality on social structure: Self-monitoring origins of network brokerage.

Despite growing interest in social network brokerage, its psychological antecedents have been neglected. One possibility is that brokerage relates to self-monitoring personality orientation. High self-monitors, relative to low self-monitors, in adapting their self-presentations to the demands of different groups, may occupy positions as brokers between disconnected social worlds. For 162 Korean expatriate entrepreneurs in a Canadian urban area, the results showed that those high in self-monitoring tended to occupy direct brokerage roles within the Korean community--in terms of their direct acquaintances being unconnected with each other. Those high in self-monitoring also tended to occupy indirect brokerage roles--in terms of the acquaintances of their acquaintances being unconnected with each other. Finally, for recent arrivals, those high in self-monitoring tended to establish ties to a wider range of important non-Korean position holders outside the community. These results (which controlled for strongly significant effects of network size on individuals' brokerage within the community) suggest a ripple effect of self-monitoring on social structure and contribute to a clearer understanding of how personality relates to brokerage at different levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of information feedback and self-administered consequences on self-monitoring study behavior.

Self-monitoring involves systematic self-observation followed by self-recording. Three hypotheses were tested in this experiment: (a) the previous finding that that self-monitoring changes study behavior would be replicated; (b) information feedback accounts for some of this behavior change; and (c) this behavior change can be enhanced by manipulating the quantity and quality of information feedback and self-administered consequences associated with self-monitoring. 87 volunteer college students concerned about their study habits were randomly assigned to a no-treatment control group, a study skills advice group, or 1 of 6 self-monitoring plus study skills advice groups. The design included a no-contact control group of 9 nonvolunteers. Grade, questionnaire, and self-monitoring data clearly support the 1st 2 hypotheses, but not the 3rd. The 2nd hypothesis was supported by the finding that students lacking accurate information about the extent (i.e., amount) of their study behavior benefited more from self-monitoring than those who were already knowledgeable about their study behavior. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of reciprocity and self-monitoring on self-disclosure with a new acquaintance.

48 high- and 48 low-self-monitoring undergraduates, selected on the basis of their scores on the Self-Monitoring Scale, interacted with a confederate who self-disclosed at either a high or low level. These interactions were audio recorded in a setting lacking experimental demand to allow Ss to get acquainted. The effects of reciprocity and self-monitoring on self-disclosure were measured by ratings of audiotapes. Results show that, overall, the reciprocity phenomenon was operative, but in contrast to previous research, lower self-monitors reciprocated at the same level as their partner under conditions of both low and high disclosure, whereas high self-monitors self-disclosed at a high level regardless of their partner's disclosing behavior. This is explained by the tendency of high self-monitors to exhibit their consistent background self-presentation behavior of appearing outgoing, friendly, and extraverted in a natural acquaintance process. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitude and activity preference similarity: Differential bases of interpersonal attraction for low and high self-monitors.

The paradigmatic research of Byrne (1971) on the similarity–attraction relation has been recently challenged by the view that it is the similarity of people's pastime preferences more than the similarity of their attitudes that may better predict both friendship and initial attraction (Werner & Parmelee, 1979). An integration of these two views is proposed in the hypothesis that the personality variable of self-monitoring (Snyder, 1974) may moderate both the attitude similarity–attraction relation and the activity preference similarity–attraction relation in initial interpersonal attraction. An experiment is reported in which low and high self-monitors formed impressions of four same-gender persons representing each of the crossed combinations of high and low value-based attitude similarity, and high and low activity preference similarity. As predicted, for low self-monitors, attitude similarity influenced initial attraction to the stimulus persons more than did activity perference similarity, and this was expressed most strongly on attraction ratings relevent to the attitude domain (i.e., judgments of respect and inferences of intellectually desirable personality traits). By contrast, for high self-monitors, activity preference similarity influenced initial attraction more than did attitude similarity, and this was expressed most strongly on attraction ratings relevant to the activity preference domain (i.e., judgments of liking and inferences of socially desirable personality traits). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-monitoring and self-protective biases in use of consensus information to predict one's own behavior.

It is often important and useful for people to predict their own behavior in novel situations. Although theory suggests that such predictions should be based at least in part on consensus information, some past research in this area suggests that people ignore it. Previous investigators have argued that, instead of using cosensus information, people predict their own behavior on the basis of their personal histories. Two studies reported in this article demonstrate that people are willing to make use of consensus information in predicting their own behavior. However, self-monitoring is found to regulate consensus information use. High self-monitors are more responsive to complimentary consensus information than are low self-monitors, and low self-monitors are more responsive to threatening consensus information than are high self-monitors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-Monitoring Without Awareness: Using Mimicry as a Nonconscious Affiliation Strategy.

This research sought to extend the current conceptualization of self-monitoring by examining whether self-monitoring motives and behaviors can operate outside of conscious awareness. Two studies examined nonconscious mimicry among high and low self-monitors in situations varying in affiliative cues. Participants interacted with a confederate who shook her foot (Study 1) or touched her face (Study 2). In both studies, high self-monitors were more likely to mimic the confederate's subtle gestures when they believed the confederate to be a peer (Study 1) or someone superior to them (Study 2). Low self-monitors mimicked to the same degree across conditions. Thus, when the situation contains affiliative cues, high self-monitors use mimicry as a nonconscious strategy to get along with their interaction partner. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and emotional performance: Extraversion, neuroticism, and self-monitoring.

Using an experimental design, the authors linked personality to performance on two emotional regulation tasks requiring the expression of either anger or enthusiasm. Across tasks, self-monitoring was associated with effective emotional performance. High self-monitors reported less stress and more deep acting than low self-monitors and did not experience elevated heart rate during emotional performance. The authors also examined affective traits, positing that emotional regulation would be less stressful for individuals who were asked to perform personality congruent emotions. As expected, individuals high on extraversion experienced elevated heart rates when asked to express personality incongruent emotions (i.e., anger). However, the association between extraversion and emotional performance was not significantly different for the two types of emotional regulation (anger and enthusiasm). Neuroticism was associated with increased heart rate and poor performance in both tasks. Overall, these data provide partial support for our personality congruency hypotheses and suggest that personality plays an important role in effective emotional performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Helping one's way to the top: Self-monitors achieve status by helping others and knowing who helps whom.

The authors argue that high self-monitors may be more sensitive to the status implications of social exchange and more effective in managing their exchange relations to elicit conferrals of status than low self-monitors. In a series of studies, they found that high self-monitors were more accurate in perceiving the status dynamics involved both in a set of fictitious exchange relations and in real relationships involving other members of their social group. Further, high self-monitors elevated their social status among their peers by establishing a reputation as a generous exchange partner. Specifically, they were more likely than low self-monitors to be sought out for help and to refrain from asking others for help. This behavior provides one explanation for why high self-monitors acquire elevated status among their peers--they are more attuned to status dynamics in exchange relations and adapt their behavior in ways that elicit status. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-monitors in conversation: What do they monitor?

164 undergraduates were administered M. Snyder's Self-Monitoring Scale and then engaged in 10-min conversations in which their same-sex partners were similar or opposite to them in self-monitoring. Conversations were videotaped, and computer techniques were used to extract content-free patterns of speech and gaze. The pace of speaking, pausing, and interrupting suggested that high self-monitors were more facile speakers than low self-monitors. Contrary to expectations, low and high self-monitors conversed easily together, and low self-monitors changed more when placed with highs than highs changed when placed with lows. Patterns of gaze were similar for low and high self-monitors, and mutual gaze among all pairs was the result of random matching of individual gazes. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-efficacy for careers and occupational consideration in minority high school equivalency students.

A. Bandura's (1977, 1986) self-efficacy theory was tested with 85 minority high school equivalency students from seasonal farm worker backgrounds. Students' self-efficacy expectations (i.e., beliefs about their ability to learn to successfully do specific occupations), interests, and perceived incentives satisfaction for specific occupations predicted their willingness to consider the occupations. Students' generality of self-efficacy (i.e., the range of occupations for which they feel efficacious) was related to the range of occupations they considered but not to their aptitude. Both men and women reported greater self-efficacy and willingness to consider occupations dominated by their own gender, with women showing a greater tendency to reject occupations dominated by the opposite gender. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job stress and family social behavior: The moderating role of neuroticism.

We investigated the role of neuroticism in the associations between job stress and working adults' social behavior during the first hour after work with their spouse and school-age children. Thirty dual-earner families were videotaped in their homes on two weekday afternoons and evenings. An observational coding system was developed to assess behavioral involvement and negative emotion expression. Participants also completed self-report measures of job stressors and trait neuroticism. There were few overall associations between job stress and social behavior during the first hour adults were at home with their spouse and school-age children. However, significant moderator effects indicated that linkages between work experiences and family behavior varied for men who reported different levels of trait neuroticism, which captures a dispositional tendency toward emotional instability. Among men who reported high neuroticism, job stress was linked to more active and more negative social behavior. Conversely, for men reporting low neuroticism, job stress was related to less talking and less negative emotion. These patterns were not found for the women in the study. The findings suggest that when work is stressful, men who are higher on neuroticism (i.e., less emotionally stable) may show a negative spillover effect, whereas men who are lower on neuroticism (i.e., more emotionally stable) may withdraw from social interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-regulatory failure: Accentuate the positive?

Investigated variables that affect self-regulatory dysfunctioning in a high-mastery context. 66 college students participated by voluntarily enrolling in a 3-wk program in preparation for mathematics portions of graduate admissions tests. Stratified random assignment resulted in 6 groups matched in math ability. Groups varied in frequency of self-monitoring (high and low) and valence of self-monitoring (positive, negative, and performance-feedback control). Positive self-monitors recorded instances of accurate problem solving, negative self-monitors recorded inaccurate problem solving, and performance-feedback Ss did not self-monitor. In accord with predictions, positive self-monitoring (relative to negative self-monitoring) led to decreased accuracy in performance, lower rates of written self-observation, less time spent self-observing performance, and lower rates of attendance at program sessions. In comparison to performance feedback, positive self-monitoring led to decreased time spent self-observing performance and to lower rates of persistence during an optional problem-solving period. Low-frequency self-monitoring did not lead to predicted decrements in self-regulation. Implications for the development of strategies designed to promote sustained self-regulated behavior change and for the study of self-regulatory failure are discussed. (65 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship Between Self-Monitoring and Leader Emergence Across Two Task Situations.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between self-monitoring and leader emergence across two types of group tasks. Seventy-eight males and 66 females participated in same-sex, three-person groups assigned at random to either a modified brainstorming task or an anagrams task condition. Subjects' self-monitoring scores were measured prior to their group participation. High self-monitors emerged more frequently as leaders than did low self-monitors in female brainstorming groups but not in male brainstorming groups. The relationship between self-monitoring and leader emergence in male and female anagrams groups was not statistically significant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some effects of deception and level of self-monitoring on planning and reacting to a self-presentation.

Investigated whether type of impression intended (accurate or fabricated) and level of self-monitoring (high or low) affect the amount of information about a target person that individuals would acquire, at some cost to themselves, prior to interacting with that person. 66 female undergraduates were given the Self-Monitoring Scale 6 wks before the experiment began. As predicted, high self-monitors planning a fabrication purchased more information than high self-monitors planning an accurate impression or low self-monitors planning either type of impression. In addition, impression type affected both actors' and targets' reactions, whereas self-monitoring affected only the targets' ratings. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitude–behavior consistency: An individual difference perspective.

Tested the prediction that only individuals whose past behaviors have been relatively invariant (low behavioral variability) and who tend to infer their attitudes from those past behaviors (low self-monitoring) would express attitudes that summarize past behaviors and, hence, strongly predict future behaviors. In the 1st session, 103 undergraduates completed a self-monitoring scale. Ss' attitudes toward religion were also assessed, and they were asked to indicate the extent to which they varied from one situation to another in how religious they were. In the 2nd session approximately 1 mo later, several measures of Ss' reports of religious behaviors since the 1st session were obtained. Attitude–behavior correlations were then computed within each of the 4 groups of Ss produced by a Low/High Self-Monitoring by Low/High Variability classification scheme. As predicted, only low self-monitors whose past religious behaviors had been relatively invariant manifested high attitude–behavior correlations across all behavioral measures. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)