Personality Characteristics of Extreme Scorers on the Self-Monitoring Scale

Abstract

Extreme high and extreme low self-monitors rated themselves and were rated by four close acquaintances on Gough's Adjective Check List and Cattell's 16 PF Profile Sheet. The theory of Snyder implies that high self-monitors ought to use more adjectives in describing themselves and that their acquaintances ought to use more adjectives in describing them. The observed differences were in the right direction but were nonsignificant. Another implication is that there should be greater self-other and other-other agreement in ratings of low self-monitors; results did not support these predictions either. Snyder's theory implies a direct relationship between self-monitoring and social desirability. In this study, high and low self-monitors did not differ in reliance on likability of adjectives used in self-descriptions. Although the construct and the scale may be useful in some contexts, self-monitoring as measured by Snyder's Self-monitoring Scale seems to have little relationship to cross-situational consistency.