Low Self-monitoring Individuals Research Articles

Cognitive Flexibility and Advice Network Centrality: The Moderating Role of Self-Monitoring.

This study examined the role of individuals’ cognitive flexibility and self-monitoring in shaping their workplace advice network centrality. Drawing on advice network generation theory, we hypothesized a positive relationship between cognitive flexibility and advice network centrality, and a moderation effect of self-monitoring on this relationship. Then, we collected two time-points data from insurance salesmen to test the hypotheses. As predicted, cognitive flexibility was positively associated with advice network centrality. Furthermore, this positive relationship was only significant for low self-monitoring individuals, but not for high self-monitoring individuals. These findings indicated that individuals with high cognitive flexibility were more likely to have central positions in the advice network; however, this effect was attenuated as their self-monitoring increased.

Illusion of transparency between individuals of high and low self-monitoring in two different type of interactive situations

Objective To examines the difference in illusion of transparency between high and low self-monitoring individuals in different situations in reference to the experimental paradigm of drink recognition by Gilovich(1998). Methods High and low self-monitoring individuals (the subjects) were selected by Snyder's Self-Monitoring Scale. Two situations were designed to study the illusion of transparency. One was acquaintance , and the other was the stranger . Results 1.The differences among the high and low self-monitoring individuals had influence on the illusion of transparency. In low self-monitoring individuals there was a stronger illusion of transparency being demonstrated among both acquaintance (4.53±2.12, 2.53±2.45; t(16)=4.41, P 0.05; t(22)=1.09, P>0.05).2.The level of illusion of transparency in low self-monitoring group among acquaintance (2.00±2.17) was higher than high self-monitoring group(0.23±1.87), t(28)=2.40, P 0.05). Conclusion The differences among the high and low self-monitoring individuals have influence on the illusion of transparency. The interactive situations have an influence on the level of illusion of transparency. Key words: Illusion of transparency; Self-monitoring; Interactive situation

On the effects of product name on product evaluation: An individual difference perspective

High and low self-monitoring individuals sampled and evaluated energy drinks that had either an image-oriented name or a name that simply described the product. High self-monitors evaluated the drinks more favorably when they had the image-oriented name than when they had the self-descriptive name. In contrast, low self-monitors preferred the drinks more when they had the self-descriptive name than when they had the image-oriented name.

Illusion of Transparency between Individuals of High and Low Self-Monitoring

The purpose of this study is to examine the differences in illusion of transparency between high and low self-monitoring individuals in reference to the experimental paradigm of "drinks recognition" by Gilovich,Savitsky,and Medvec (1998). It is hypothesized that:1) the differences in impression management among the high and low self-monitoring individuals has influence on the strength of illusion of transparency,with a stronger illusion of transparency being demonstrated in low self-monitoring individuals than high self-monitoring individuals; 2) in face-to-face interactive situations between the subjects and audience,subjects with a high level of self-monitoring will show a stronger tendency to focus on subtle feedback from the audience,which may reduce their illusion of transparency. Two experiments were designed to examine these hypotheses. A total of 42 subjects participated in experiment 1. Subjects that scored over 15 on the Self-Monitoring Scale (Snyder,1974) were placed in the high self-monitoring group,and those scored under 9 were placed in the low self-monitoring group. The subjects were required to drink 5 cups of liquids (one of them was vinegar and the rest were water) without revealing the clues of the liquid types from their facial expressions. The drinking process was videotaped and shown to the audience who were requested to tell vinegar from water on the basis of the subjects' facial expressions. The subjects were also asked to estimate the maximum number of correct distinctions between the vinegar and water that would be made by the 10 audience members. In experiment 2,the procedures and number of subjects were the same as experiment 1,except that the subjects performed in front of the audience instead of being videotaped. Findings indicated that low self-monitoring subjects showed a higher level of illusion of transparency than that of the high monitoring subjects. In comparison to the videotaped experiment,the individuals characterized as high self-monitors showed a further decline in illusion of transparency in face-to-face situations. Possible explanations that the high self-monitoring group had a low level of illusion of transparency include the following:the high self-monitoring group,in comparison to the low self-monitoring group,might have tried harder to control their facial expressions and therefore may have experienced a lower level of anxiety. This could be caused by the fact that participants were more confident about their ability to control their facial expressions. Another possible explanation could be that participants were willing to take higher levels of risks regarding judgment. A final explanation could be that these participants observed the reaction of the audience in the face-to-face situation.

Self-monitoring and the propensity for risk

Apart from earlier research on sexual behavior, little is known about associations between self-monitoring and engagement in risk behaviors. Our research verified that one component of self-monitoring, public performing, is related to a range of risk behaviors. We then tested whether the greater engagement of high compared to low self-monitoring individuals in risk behaviors could be attributed to: (a) greater discrepancies between perceptions of risk and reported risk behaviors for the high-scoring group; or (b) higher levels of sensation seeking among high versus low self-monitoring individuals. Data from a sample of 452 college students supported the second of these two explanations. Implications for self-monitoring theory and measurement, as well as for adolescent and young adult risk behaviors, are discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Self-monitoring and the propensity for risk

Apart from earlier research on sexual behavior, little is known about associations between self-monitoring and engagement in risk behaviors. Our research verified that one component of self-monitoring, public performing, is related to a range of risk behaviors. We then tested whether the greater engagement of high compared to low self-monitoring individuals in risk behaviors could be attributed to: (a) greater discrepancies between perceptions of risk and reported risk behaviors for the high-scoring group; or (b) higher levels of sensation seeking among high versus low self-monitoring individuals. Data from a sample of 452 college students supported the second of these two explanations. Implications for self-monitoring theory and measurement, as well as for adolescent and young adult risk behaviors, are discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Feigning Romantic Interest: The Role of Self-Monitoring

In two studies, we examined the extent to which high and low self-monitoring individuals successfully feigned romantic interest in potential dating partners. In Study 1, high self-monitoring men and women reported they would be better at, and would derive more enjoyment from, feigning interest in two different relationship initiation contexts. In Study 2, high self-monitoring men and women were videotaped while they tried to feign interest or lack of interest in an attractive opposite-sex person. Raters evaluated participants' verbal and nonverbal behavior on measures of perceived interest/liking and behavioral cues known to signal romantic interest. When they feigned interest, high self-monitoring men and women were rated as conveying greater interest than low self-monitors through the verbal channel. Additional analyses identified the specific verbal cues that did and did not mediate links between self-monitoring and ratings of verbal interest.

Self-Monitoring and Perception of Performance Norms of Sport Teams

An analysis was carried out of influence of self-monitoring on perception of performance norms, the attitudes shared among team members about how high a performance the group should achieve. High self-monitoring individuals have a higher mean perception of performance norms, whereas the low self-monitoring individuals have lower mean perception of norms.

Investigating the social-adjustive and value-expressive functions of well-grounded attitudes: Implications for change and for subsequent behavior

Recent demonstrations of the plausibility of functional theories of persuasion have occurred within advertising contexts or have targeted potentially nebulous or uninvolving attitudes, and may thus have demonstrated the utility of functional explanations of attitude formation rather than attitude change. In the present study, attitudes that participants have acted on and consider important (i.e., the criteria they use to select dating partners) were the targets of persuasion. High and low self-monitoring individuals, who hold different dating attitudes that serve different functions, were exposed to functionally relevant or functionally irrelevant messages that reached either proattitudinal or counterattitudinal conclusions. As anticipated by functional theory, (a) low self-monitoring individuals changed their dating attitudes only after hearing a counterattitudinal message that addressed thevalue-expressive functions their dating attitudes served, whereas (b) high self-monitoring individuals changed their opinions only after hearing a counterattitudinal message that addressed thesocial-adjustive functions served by their dating attitudes. Although the data revealed that important attitudes can be changed via a functionally relevant appeal, only the low self-monitoring individuals subsequently used their changed attitudes to guide their behavior in a subsequent couple-matching task. Implications of these results for functional theories of persuasion and for variations in attitude/behavior consistency were discussed.

Influence of Self-Monitoring on Dating Motivations

Two studies examined the relations between self-monitoring and motivations for forming and maintaining romantic relationships. Investigation 1 revealed that high and low self-monitoring individuals have contrasting motivations that influence what they look for in, and seek to obtain from, romantic partners. Specifically, high self-monitors reported greater extrinsic motives for maintaining a relationship than did low self-monitors, and low self-monitors reported greater intrinsic motives than did high self-monitors. Investigation 2 revealed that these differences in motivations between high and low self-monitors are reflected in their differential preferences for characteristics in a dating partner. Overall, the results suggest that self-monitoring may influence whether and why individuals enter long-term relationships and what they seek to obtain from these relationships.

Toward a Two-Track Model of Leadership Training

The personality typology of high versus low self-monitoring is presented as a possible moderator of leadership training. The behavior of high self-monitoring individuals is guided by situational factors; these individuals are capable of accurate modifications of their behavior to correspond to social situations, and they are especially skilled in diagnosing social situations. Hence, high self-monitoring leaders should benefit most from leadership training requiring leaders'behavior to change as a function of group contingencies (Track I training). In contrast, the behavior of low self-monitoring individuals is displayed in accordance with internal, dispositional traits and values. These leaders should profit most from training that instructs leaders to alter organizational structures (relationships with boss or with the subordinate group) to produce an effective match between the leader's intrinsic behavioral style and group contingencies (Track I training).

Group Members' Self-Monitoring as a Possible Neutralizer of Leadership

Data derived from responses of 195 staff nurses indicated that the impact of a leader's behavior was neutralized among group members who were low self-monitors, but intensified among group members who were high self-monitors. Correlations between staff nurses' job performance and their ratings of the head nurses' leadership behaviors were not significant for low self-monitoring nurses but were significant for high self-monitoring nurses. Low self-monitoring individuals, who guide their behavior by monitoring internal cues, tended to ignore the leader's behavior but produced effective work when they felt the work was important. High self-monitoring individuals, who guide their behavior by situational cues, depended upon the leader's behavior for effective job performance regardless of the importance of the job.

Orientations toward personnel selection: Differential reliance on appearance and personality.

In two studies we examined the hypothesis that the psychological construct of self-monitoring would identify people who adopt distinctly different strategies in personnel selection. In both experiments, undergraduates examined information about the physical appearance and personalities of two applicants for a specific job and then decided which applicant should receive a job offer. In Study 1 information about the applicants' physical attractiveness and job-appropriate dispositions was varied. In Study 2 job appropriateness of the applicants' physical appearance and of their personalities were both varied. In each study, high self-monitoring individuals placed greater weight on information about physical appearance than did low self-monitoring individuals. By contrast, low self-monitoring individuals put greater weight on information about personal dispositions than did high selfmonitoring individuals. We discuss the implications for understanding personnel selection as well as for decision making in interpersonal contexts. Some of the most important and consequential decisions in people's lives are made by other people. Who to befriend or avoid, marry or divorce, acquit or convict, hire or fire are all decisions about others with potentially significant consequences. A natural concern, therefore, is how these decisions are made. Recent research strongly suggests that people adopt systematically different approaches to gathering, weighing, and acting on information about other people when initiating personal relationships. At least one set of differing orientations may be identified with stable differences between individuals in their self-monitoring propensities (Glick, 1985; Omoto, DeBono, & Snyder, 1987; Snyder, Berscheid, & Glick, 1985). These investigations on the initiation of romantic relationships were guided by the psychological construct of self-monitoring (see Snyder, 1979, 1987). High self-monitoring individuals typically strive to be the type of person called for by each situation in which they find themselves and thus are particularly sensitive and responsive to interpersonal and situational specifications of behavioral appropriateness; they use this information to monitor and control the images of self that they project to others in social situations. As investigations on the initiation of personal relationships indicate, high self-monitoring individuals also appear to carry this concern with their own public appearances to a concern with the images conveyed by people with whom they may be

Self-Monitoring and Innovativeness

This study tested the hypothesis that high self-monitoring individuals would score higher on a measure of innovativeness than low self-monitoring individuals. A two-way analysis of covariance with social desirability as the covariate confirmed the hypothesis for both male and female college students ( n = 187).

Self-monitoring processes in stutterers

The Self-Monitoring Scale developed by Snyder (1974) was administered to 26 adult stutterers and 26 nonstutterers. The purpose of the study was to determine if stutterers differed significantly in their level of self-monitoring compared with fluent speakers. It was hypothesized that stutterers would be classified as low self-monitoring individuals. The results lend support to this hypothesis. Analysis of the scores of the Self-Monitoring Scale, as suggested by Briggs et al. (1980), was also carried out. These findings add further support to the hypothesis that stutterers tend to be low self-monitors.

Self-Monitoring and Attitude Accessibility

In a study investigating the relation between self-monitoring and attitude accessibility, high -and low-self-monitoring individuals evaluated a wide variety of attitude objects. Attitude accessibility was operationalized in terms of latency of response to these attitudinal inquiries. As predicted, response latencies were faster for low than for high self-monitoring individuals. This finding implies that the attitudes of low self-monitoring individuals are characterized by stronger object evaluation associations and, consequently, are more accessible from memory, relative to the attitudes of high self-monitoring individuals. The implications of the present findings for understanding the mechanisms underlying the moderating influence of self-monitoring on the attitude-behavior relation are discussed.

Personality and sexual relations.

This investigation examined the links between self-monitoring propensities and orientations toward sexual relations. A factor analysis of behavioral and attitudinal survey data revealed that high selfmonitoring individuals tend to establish an unrestricted orientation toward sexual relations (such that they may engage in sex with others to whom they are not necessarily psychologically close), whereas low self-monitoring individuals tend to establish a restricted orientation (such that they will engage in sex only with partners to whom they are psychologically close). At the behavioral level, high relative to low self-monitoring individuals indicated that they had a larger number of different sexual partners within the preceding year, could foresee themselves having sex with a larger number of different partners within the next 5 years, and were more likely to have engaged in sex with someone on only one occasion. At an attitudinal level, low relative to high self-monitoring individuals indicated that they would be more reluctant to have sex with someone to whom they were not committed, and that they would be more uncomfortable with, and less likely to enjoy engaging in, casual sex with different partners. Possible origins and implications of these contrasting orientations are discussed. Throughout the ages, it has been a matter for contemplation, debate, and personal statement: Given human nature, what is the role of love, closeness, and commitment in sexual relations between consenting partners? Are and commitment necessary prerequisites for sexual relations? Is the sexual experience empty and meaningless without psychological closeness between the partners? Or can sex be a comfortable, enjoyable, and even enriching experience for partners who, although attracted to each other, are not psychologically close? If one samples literary, academic, or personal statements made on this issue, one is likely to find pronounced disagreement. Compare and contrast, for instance, the views of Bertrand Russell, Civilized people cannot fully satisfy their sexual instinct without love (1929), and Adrienne Rich, I'd call it if love/ didn't take so many years/ but lust too is a jewel (1966). Indeed, at least within Western cultures, there may be reliable and substantive differences in orientations toward sexual relations. Some people believe that—at least for themselves—sexual relations need not be restricted to relationships in which they and their partners are psychologically close. They may claim, for instance, that if they were attracted to someone, they would feel comfortable and at ease engaging in sex with that person, even if they did not know him or her well. Such people may be said to

What aspects of self do self-monitors monitor?

This study explored the relationships among Snyder’s self-monitoring construct (and its component factors) and the three components of the Self-Consciousness Scale: public self-consciousness, private self-consciousness, and social anxiety. The best single predictor of self-monitoring tendencies was social anxiety, although the increment in R-square attributable to public self-consciousness was also significant. Those scoring highest on the Self-Monitoring Scale were in social anxiety and high in public self-consciousness, whereas the prototypic low self-monitoring individuals were in social anxiety, low in public self-consciousness, and high in private self-consciousness. The data also revealed that the three presumably independent self-monitoring subscales are highly intercorrelated, a finding that calls into question their status as distinct factors.

Choosing friends as activity partners: The role of self-monitoring.

Two investigations examined the involvement of self-monitori ng processes in friendship. The first investigation focused on the differential considerations that are involved when high self-monitoring individuals and low self-monitoring individuals choose friends as partners for leisure-time activities. High self-monitoring individuals, more so than low self-monitoring individuals, chose friends as activity partners on the basis of their friends' particular skills in the activity domain. Low self-monitoring individuals, more so than high self-monitoring individuals, chose friends as activity partners on the basis of general feelings of liking for their friends. The second investigation examined the internal structures of the preferred social worlds of high self-monitoring individuals and low self-monitoring individuals. High self-monitoring individuals preferred relatively partitioned and compartmentalized social worlds in which they would engage in particular activities only with specific partners. Low self-monitoring individuals preferred relatively homogeneous and undifferentiated social worlds in which they would spend time with friends who were globally similar to them. The implications of these findings for understanding the processes by which individuals high and low in self-monitoring facilitate the enactment of their characteristic behavioral orientations, as well as for understanding the nature of friendship itself, are discussed. Investigations of self-monitoring processes have identified two orientations that individuals can and do adopt as they enact their behavioral choices in social contexts. Some individuals typically strive to appear to be the type of person called for by each situation in which they find themselves. These individuals are particularly sensitive and responsive to social and interpersonal cues to situational appropriateness. Their social behavior displays pronounced situation-to-situation specificity. At the same time, correspondence between their behavior and underlying attitudes often is minimal. These individuals are known as

Choosing social situations: Two investigations of self-monitoring processes.

Two investigations examined the processes by which individuals choose social situations. In the first investigation, participants chose to enter or not to enter a situation that called for behavioral expressions of extraversion. For high selfmonitoring individuals, willingness to enter this situation was a direct reflection of the clarity with which the extraverted character of the situation was defined. For low self-monitoring individuals, willingness to enter this situation was a direct reflection of their personal dispositions within the domain of extraversion and introversion. In the second investigation, participants were assigned to a situation and were allowed to indicate how the situation might be changed to make them more willing to enter it. The transformed situations of high self-monitoring individuals were of relatively clearly defined character. The transformed situations of low self-monitoring individuals were relatively congruent with their own extraverted or introverted dispositions. The processes by which high self-monitoring individuals and low self-monitoring individuals facilitate the enactment of their characteristic behavioral orientations are discussed.