An analysis of the Self-Monitoring Scale.

Abstract

A factor analysis of the Self-Monitoring Scale yielded three replicated factors: Acting, Extraversion, and Other-Directedness. Acting includes being good at and liking to speak and entertain. Other-Directedness is a willingness to change one's behavior to suit other people, and Extraversion is self-explanat ory. OtherDirectedness correlates positively with Shyness and Neuroticism and negatively with Self-Esteem. Extraversion correlates negatively with Shyness and positively with Self-Esteem and Sociability. Two of the scale's three factors, therefore, have opposite patterns of correlations with other personality dimensions. The three distinct factors help to explain certain discrepancies found in previous research with the Self-Monitoring Scale. For future research, we suggest that scores for each of the factors are more appropriate than full scale scores. We conclude that there may be a gap between the construct of Self-Monitori ng and how it is operationalized in the scale. Stage actors make gestures, speak dialogue, and respond to cues—all in the service of portraying a particular character or role written by the author. Several decades ago, Erving Goffman (1956) used the stage metaphor to characterize the way each of us acts in social contexts. He suggested that we behave the way others expect us to, that we are alert to subtle cues in our social environment, and that in general we engage in self-presentation. A sociologist, Goffman ignored individual differences, but surely people vary in the extent to which they stage-manage their social behavior. To assess such individual differences, Mark Snyder developed the Self-Monitoring Scale (1974). A description of the high selfmonitor is also a definition of the concept: The prototypic high selt-monitoring individual is one who, out of concern for the situational and interpersonal appropriateness of his or her social behavior, is particularly sensitive to the expression and self-presentation of relevant others in social situations and uses these cues as guidelines for selfmonitoring (that is, regulating and controlling) his

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