Self-monitoring: Appraisal and reappraisal

Theory and research on self-monitoring have accumulated into a sizable lite rature on the impact of variation in the extent to which people cultivate p ublic appearances in diverse domains of social functioning. Yet self-monito ring and its measure, the Self-Monitoring Scale, are surrounded by controve rsy generated by conflicting answers to the critical question, Is self-moni toring a unitary phenomenon? A primary source of answers to this question h as been largely neglected-the Self-Monitoring Scale's relations with extern al criteria. We propose a quantitative method to examine the self-monitorin g literature and thereby address major issues of the controversy. Applicati on of this method reveals that, with important exceptions, a wide range of external criteria tap a dimension directly measured by the Self-Monitoring Scale. We discuss what this appraisal reveals about what self-monitoring is and is not.