Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Self-Monitoring

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

  • 202 Accesses

Definition

Individual difference construct that captures an individual’s ability to observe and control one’s own behavior, based on situational cues and social appropriateness.

Introduction

Self-monitoring is a personality trait or individual difference that reflects the fact that people meaningfully differ in whether (or how) they regulate their behavior in different social situations (Snyder 1974). “Behavior” in this sense reflects both the language one uses in a social setting, as well the nonverbal communication (e.g., facial expressions, body language) employed, based on an individual’s appraisal of which actions are appropriate for a given context. Self-monitoring is viewed as existing on a continuum, such that individuals range from “low” to “high” in their tendency to alter their behavior based on social cues from one context to the next. On one end, high self-monitors (HSMs) are exceptionally attuned to social situations and can be chameleon-like in their actions and...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Allen, D. G., Weeks, K. P., & Moffitt, K. R. (2005). Turnover intentions and voluntary turnover: The moderating roles of self-monitoring, locus of control, proactive personality, and risk aversion. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(5), 980–990.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2005). Honesty-humility, the Big Five, and the Five-factor model. Journal of Personality, 73(5), 1321–1354.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barrick, M. R., Parks, L., & Mount, M. K. (2005). Self-monitoring as a moderator of the relationships between personality traits and performance. Personnel Psychology, 58(3), 745–767.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bedeian, A. G., & Day, D. V. (2004). Can chameleons lead? The Leadership Quarterly, 15(5), 687–718.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhardwaj, A., Qureshi, I., Konrad, A. M., & Lee, S. H. M. (in press). A two-wave study of self-monitoring personality, social network churn, and in-degree centrality in close friendship and general socializing networks. Group & Organization Management. doi:10.1177/1059601115608027.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briggs, S. R., & Cheek, J. M. (1986). The role of factor analysis in the development and evaluation of personality scales. Journal of Personality, 54(1), 106–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Briggs, S. R., & Cheek, J. M. (1988). On the nature of self-monitoring: Problems with assessment, problems with validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(4), 663–678.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Briggs, S. R., Cheek, J. M., & Buss, A. H. (1980). An analysis of the self-monitoring scale. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 38(4), 679–686.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caligiuri, P. M., & Day, D. V. (2000). Effects of self-monitoring on technical, contextual, and assignment-specific performance: A study of cross-national work performance ratings. Group & Organization Management, 25(2), 154–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Day, D. V., & Schleicher, D. J. (2006). Self-monitoring at work: A motive-based perspective. Journal of Personality, 74(3), 685–714.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Day, D. V., Schleicher, D. J., Unckless, A. L., & Hiller, N. J. (2002). Self-monitoring personality at work: A meta-analytic investigation of construct validity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(2), 390–401.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gangestad, S. W., & Snyder, M. (2000). Self-monitoring: Appraisal and reappraisal. Psychological Bulletin, 126(4), 530–555.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hogan, R. (1983). A socioanalytic theory of personality. In M. M. Page (Ed.), 1982 Nebraska symposium on motivation (pp. 55–89). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hogan, R., Jones, W. H., & Cheek, J. M. (1985). Socioanalytic theory: An alternative to armadillo psychology. In B. R. Schlenker (Ed.), The self and social life (pp. 175–198). New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hogan, R. T. (1991). Personality and personality measurement. In M. D. Dunnette & L. M. Hough (Eds.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (Vol. 2, 2nd ed., pp. 873–919). Palo Alto: Consulting Psychologists.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleinbaum, A. M., Jordan, A. H., & Audia, P. G. (2015). An altercentric perspective on the origins of brokerage in social networks: How perceived empathy moderates the self-monitoring effect. Organization Science, 26(4), 1226–1242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lennox, R., & Wolfe, R. (1984). Revision of the self-monitoring scale. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 1349–1364.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, J. S., & Cardy, R. L. (2000). Self-monitoring and performance appraisal: Rating outcomes in project teams. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21(6), 609–626.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ogunfowora, B., Bourdage, J. S., & Nguyen, B. (2013). An exploration of the dishonest side of self-monitoring: Links to moral disengagement and unethical business decision making. European Journal of Personality, 27(6), 532–544.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oh, I. S., Charlier, S. D., Mount, M. K., & Berry, C. M. (2014). The two faces of high self-monitors: Chameleonic moderating effects of self-monitoring on the relationships between personality traits and counterproductive work behaviors. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(1), 92–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parks-Leduc, L., Pattie, M. W., Pargas, F., & Eliason, R. G. (2014). Self-monitoring as an aggregate construct: Relationships with personality and values. Personality and Individual Differences, 58, 3–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snyder, M. (1974). Self-monitoring of expressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30(4), 526–537.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snyder, M., & Gangestad, S. (1986). On the nature of self-monitoring: Matters of assessment, matters of validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(1), 125–139.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Turnley, W. H., & Bolino, M. C. (2001). Achieving desired images while avoiding undesired images: Exploring the role of self-monitoring in impression management. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(2), 351.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Warech, M. A., Smither, J. W., Reilly, R. R., Millsap, R. E., & Reilly, S. P. (1998). Self-monitoring and 360-degree ratings. The Leadership Quarterly, 9(4), 449–473.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA, USA

    Steven D. Charlier

Authors
  1. Steven D. Charlier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steven D. Charlier .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    Christian Jordan

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this entry

Cite this entry

Charlier, S.D. (2017). Self-Monitoring. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1176-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1176-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation