Self-Monitoring and Social Perception

Abstract

This study examined subjects' attribution of self-monitoring processes to themselves and to others, as well as their actual self- and ideal self-perceptions. High self-monitors attributed significantly lower self-monitoring to people they liked, but there were no significant differences in attributions of self-monitoring to themselves and people they disliked. Low self-monitors, on the other hand, attributed significantly higher self-monitoring to both liked and disliked others than to themselves. There was a significant difference between the actual self-perceptions of high and low self-monitors on nearly half of the 20 rating scales, yet only a few significant differences in the ideal self-perceptions of the two groups.