Inconsistency and social skills as two components of self-monitoring

Author(s): Diemand, A., Schuler, H.

Journal/Book: Diagnostica. 1996; 42: Rohnsweg 25, D-37085 Gottingen, Germany. Hogrefe-Verlag GmbH & Co. 268-283.

Abstract: Snyder (1974; 1987) introduced the psychological construct ''self-monitoring''. High self-monitorers are especially attentive to the situational appropriateness of their behavior, and they search and use social cues in order to present themselves and to regulate as well as control their behavior. Low self-monitorers are less attentive to the social cues and they also do not possess a well developed repertoire of skills in order to present themselves. A German version of the self monitoring scale was introduced by Nowack and Kammer (1987), However, these authors found the scale to be composed of two independent subscales, ''inconsistency'' and ''social skills''. In our first study (N=431 university students) we replicated the two factor structure by means of confirmatory factor analysis. Model fit turned out to be higher (GFl=.91) than for a one-dimensional model (GFl=.83). The two subscales are only marginally correlated (r=.14). In addition, inconsistency seems to be of a more defensive and neurotic nature in comparison to social skills, in that inconsistency correlates higher with neuroticism (r=.32 vs. r=.-.23), public self consciousness (r=.23 vs. r=-.03) and social desirability (r=-.39 vs. r=.08). In a second study assessors' ratings of candidates for supervisory positions in the context of assessment centers within an international enterprise were correlated with ''social skills'' (N=58; r=.26; p (<.05) but not with ''inconsistency'' (r=.02; ns).

Note: Article K Moser, Univ Giessen, Fachbereich Psychol, Arbeits & ORG Psychol, D-35394 Giessen, Germany

Keyword(s): inconsistency; social skills; self-monitoring; neuroticism; assessment center; SCALE; CONSCIOUSNESS; PERSONALITY; GOODNESS; FIT

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