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NewsMine nature-health society Viewing Item | Self monitor PUBLIC APPEARANCES, PRIVATE REALITIES - the psychology of self monitoring mark snyder, 1987
Just about everybody acts to control the impressions conveyed to others to some extent, but for some people, this strategy is a way of life. some people are particularly sensitive to how they appear in social situations- at parties, job interviews, professional meetings- circumstances if all kinds where they might be motivated to crate and maintain appearance. these people carefully observe their own image, acting like different people depending on the situation and their audience. it is as if they are actors for whom life itself is a drama in which they play a series of roles, choosing the self that best fits the circumstance at hand.
low self monitors are not so concerned with constantly assessing the social climate around them. their behavior is quite consistent: they typically express what they really think and feel, even if doing so means sailing against the prevailing winds of their social environments. "to thine own self be true"
self monitoring is intimately associated with people's private beliefs about what consitutes a "self"
Erving Goffman - "impression managment" - people present different selves to different others
ability to control self-presentation to foster desired images in the eyes of their beholders. social interaction requires people to be aware of the interpretations others give their actions
Within the general population, do people differ meaningfully in whether they can and do exercise intentional control over their self-presentations, expressive behaviors and non-verbal displays of affect.
high- sensitive to cues to the situational appropriateness of his or her social behavior and who uses these cues as guidelines for monitoring (regulating and controlling) his or her expressive behavior and self-presentations. low- less attentive to social information about situationally appropriate self-presentation and does not possess a highly developed repertiore of self-presentational skills. his or her expressive self-presentation seem, in a functional sense, to be controlled by inner attitudes, dispositions, and values, rather than to be molded and shaped to fit the situation
expressive behavior that is truly spontaneously emitted, and coping hahavior which is purposely controlled and consciously performed (Allport 1961)
regulate and control the selves they present to others
friends of high usually high, low with low
likely to turn to others for guidance in deciding how to cope with unfamiliar and potentially embarrassing social situations (rarick, soldow, and geizer, 1976) may go as far as to "purchase" at some cost to themselves information that may help them choose appropriate self presentation (elliot 1977)
skilled at "reading" others to infer emotional states
**part II high- "who does this situation want me to be and how can I be that person?" low- seek words and deeds that faithfully express their attitudes, feelings, and personalities. "who am I and how can I be me in this situation?"
high- pragmatic low- principaled sense of self
situational considerations: very responsive to social and interpersonal cues to behavioral appropriateness; underlying personal attributes minumal to behavior inner sources: substantial consistency across situations over time, underlying personal attibutes substantial to behavior
high- invest considerable effort to "read" and understand others in search for choosing their own self-presentations
high self monitoring "witnesses" outperform those low in self-monitoring on incidental learning and facial recognition tasks (e.g. Hosch and Cooper, 1981; Hosch, Leippe, and Marchioni, 1984; Hosch and Platz, 1984)
high - skilled impression managers, words chosen not for what they say about private feelings and attitudes, but rather tactical value for setting up appearances
high- conformists in private discussions, appropriate for internpersonal orientation; non-conformists in public discussions; low- unaffected by their social setting (Snyder and Monson 1975)
give outside observers the general appearanc of being more "friendly, outgoing, and extraverted" but less "worried, anxious, and nervous" (Lippa, 1976a, b; Cappella 1985)
flexibility to cope with different social roles, communicate very little about one's private life, contradictions between attitudes and actions
high in dyads- active role in conversations, being inclined to talk first and initiate subsequent conversation, seen as having greater need to talk; low- greater opportunity to "be themselves" (Ickes and Barnes 1977)
concerned with creating and maintaining a smooth flow of conversation; talked about other person, or others, not self; first-person singular pronouns (e.g. I, me, my, mine, myself) occur low frequency in the conversion, although they use plural pronouns (e.g., we, us, our, ours, ourselves) (p.43)
**chapter 4 who are you high- express externally located identity as important (i.e. memberships in groups) not express internally located identity as imporant (i.e. emotions and feelings) (Sampson 1978) low- sense of self cast in terms of stable traits, explain behavior as internally motivated
low- self knowledge important for choosing actions
** chapter 5 low- homogenized social worlds, contact with friends easy by the fact that all friends tend to be alike high- friends tend to be highly skilled activity partners, compartentalized social worlds, certain friends for certain activities, rarely allowing different relationships to overlap
segmentation of social world audience segmentation - not crossing audiences with different images low - little resistence to mixing their audiences
deciding whether to wear the suit or the sportcoat: high- wonder which look better for the occasion low- which outft he happens to like better
close friends span diverse activity domains and perform multiple social roles
low- usually don't pair activity with the person (p65)
high- friendship defined on activity based "friendship of utility" low- defined by the properties of the people "friendship of pleasure"
**chapter 5 low- close and exlusive romantic relationships, (advertised for long term and for certain personality traits) high- less close and non-exlusive, judge on physical traits (advertised for short term, casual, request photograph)
high- men dated on exterior, low- men dated judging interior
low- admit more investment (time, emotion) in relationship than partner, would describe relatinship as closer than partner
high- believe more partners available to them, more often fantisize about one other than partner
no connection in self monitoring orientation in romantic relationships
**ch 6 high- professions that call on them to portray one or more clearly defined roles; theatre, public relations, law, politics, sales, diplomatic; allow them to exercise their self-presentational and expressive skills
low- unwilling to consider a job that would require them to behave contrary to their own introverted natures
high self monitor's ability to emerge as a leader in groups and organizations (e.g., Garland and Beard, 1979; Miller, 1984; Schubot and Kurecka, 1980; Whitmore and Klimoski, 1984)
high- leadership skills: motivating, encouraging cooperation, setting clear goals and empahsizing deadlines, supporting, making others feel at ease, listening to others, letting them use their own judgement where appropriate
not often emerge as leaders, emerge as leaders only in situations involving high level of verbal interaction (garland and Beard 1979), and climates that encourage leaderships strivings (Whitmore and Klimoski, 1984)
low- do better in jobs that call for low self monitoring social style
low- good managers of homogenous work groups
high- hired those who looked the part low- hired those who performed the part
***Ch 10 (Crowne and Marlowe, 1964) person with extraverted disposition (who may possess some high self monitoring abilities but lack high self-monitoring motivations) and the person with the high need for social approval (who may be motivated to engage in self-monitoring but lack the self presentational abilities to do so) suggest that, with respect to self monitoring, ability precedes motivation
children similiar to self monitoring adults- expressive, flair for telling stories, focus on social structure of events and different roles people can and do play in social situations, "dramatists" (Wolf and Gardner 1979)
"born then made" - biological-genetic and environmental-socialization infuences
**Ch 13 1. I find it hard to imitate the behavior of other people. (F) 2. At parties and social gatherings, I do not attempt to do or say things that others will like. (F) 3. I can argue for ideas which I already believe. (F) 4. I can make impromptu speeches even on topics about which I have almost no information. 5. I guess I put on a show to impress or entertain others. (T) 6. I would probably make a good actor. (T) 7. In a group of people I am rarely the center of attention. (F) 8. In different situations with different people, I often act like very different persons. (T) 9. I am not particularly good at making other people like me. (F) 10. I'm not always the person I appear to be. (T) 11. I would not change my opinions (or the way I do things) in order to please someone or win their favor. (F) 12. I have considered being an entertainer. (T) 13. I have never been good at games like charades or improvisational acting. (F) 14. I have trouble changing my behavior to suit different people and different situations. (F) 15. At a party I let others keep the jokes and stories going. (F) 16. I feel a bit awkward in company and do not show up quite as well as I should. (F) 17. I can look anyone in the eye and tell a lie with a straight ace (if for a right end). (T) 18. I may deceive people by being friendly when I really dislike them. (T)
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