Knowledge-based information acquisition: norms and the functions of consensus information

Mill's (1872/1973) method of difference prescribes that the lay scientist should use consensus information as a control condition for the person and distinctiveness information as a control condition for the stimulus when analyzing their causal effects on the occurrence of the target event. However, in studies of information acquisition, subjects have shown a consistent preference for distinctiveness information when answering causal questions about the person, and for consensus information when answering causal questions about the stimulus. To explain this discrepancy, we distinguish between the evaluative, contrastive, and corroborative functions of consensus and distinctiveness information. In addition, we suggest that subjects seek consensus information only if it is relevant to the question posed to them, and if they cannot supply it from their own presupposed knowledge of behavioral norms. We report four information acquisition experiments that provide support for our analysis.     

Self-monitoring and age

Two adult samples were surveyed to investigate the relation between individuals' levels of self-monitoring and age. A negative relation was predicted as older individuals were seen as most likely to exhibit the low self-monitoring tendency of behaving in accordance with one's own attitudes and feelings, whereas younger individuals appeared most likely to exhibit the high self-monitoring tendency of behaving according to social cues. A significant negative correlation between age and self-monitoring was found in both samples. The self-monitoring construct is discussed in relation to other social-cognitive life-span differences and to the idea of critical periods throughout the life span.     

Self-monitoring and sex as moderator variables in the statistical explanation of self-reported marijuana and alcohol use

Self-monitoring and sex are examined as likely moderators of some of the known effective predictors of self-reported use of marijuana and alcohol. The theory of self-monitoring implies that in comparisons between low and high self-monitors, dispositional predictors account for more of the variance in reported use among low self-monitors and environmental predictors account for more of the variance among high self-monitors. With the two classes of predictors established via principal-components analysis and with subgroups defined by scores on Snyder's Self-Monitoring Scale, data from 807 college students showed that self-monitoring does not affect the action of either dispositional or environmental predictors. Thus, the self-monitoring construct promises explanatory leverage that in these tests, the scale is not able to deliver. When subgroups are defined by sex, analyses of reported alcohol use yield small but significant moderator effects: Women's use is more predictable from environmental variables, whereas men's use is more predictable from dispositional variables. These effects are consistent with the conclusions of recent meta-analyses of results from studies of sex differences in conformity to group pressures.     

自我监控概念的重构

Snyder（1974）提出自我监控来解释自我呈现中的个体差异。他认为高自我监控者具有3个特征：关注行为的适宜性,对情境线索敏感,并以此作为行为调节的指南。作者通过文献回顾指出,Snyder对高自我监控的定义不妥。该文通过对自我呈现功能分析,指出自我呈现既有自我功能,又有人际功能。想要给他人留下期望的印象,自我呈现不仅要维系人际和谐,而且要维系自我和谐。根据这两个维度,该文对自我监控概念进行了重构。把自我监控者分为4种：高自我监控者在自我呈现过程中既维系自我和谐,又维系人际和谐;他人导向监控者只注重人际和谐;自我导向监控者只注重自我和谐;低自我监控者既不注意人际和谐,也不注意自我和谐     

Self-monitoring and consumer psychology

Research on the relations between self-monitoring differences and two important areas of consumer behavior, reactions to specific advertising approaches and product evaluation strategies, is reviewed and evaluated. First, research on the responsiveness of high and low self-monitors to image-oriented and product-quality-based advertising attempts is addressed. Although findings generally indicate that high self-monitors are more responsive to image-oriented ads and that low self-monitors are more responsive to quality-based appeals, these results have not been robust. Possible reasons for this inconsistency are explored. Second, research on the means by which high and low self-monitors evaluate consumer products is examined. Findings suggest that when judging product quality, low self-monitors tend to rely on product performance and high self-monitors more likely use the product's image-enhancing capabilities. Additionally, research indicates that self-image/product-image congruency is generally a more important concern for low self-monitors, but high and low self-monitors' differential reliance on this congruency might be moderated by the situations in which the product is typically used. Additional possible delimiting conditions of these general findings are discussed.     

Self-monitoring and close relationships

Three types of close relationships have received attention from theorists and researchers interested in self-monitoring: friendships, romantic relationships, and marriage. Our review of this literature was organized around three phases of relationships: initiation, maintenance, and dissolution. Across the three types of relationships, consistent differences between high self-monitors and low self-monitors emerged concerning the structure of their social relationships (segmented vs. integrated), the basis for choosing friends and romantic partners (activity-based vs. person-based), and the orientation taken to romantic and marital partners (uncommitted vs. committed). Across all three types of relationships, however, little is known about the processes and consequences involved in the dissolution of close relationships for high self-monitors and low self-monitors. Relatively little is also known about the processes used by high self-monitors and low self-monitors to maintain their friendships and marriages. In addition to addressing these deficiencies in the literature, theorists and researchers interested in self-monitoring and close relationships need to develop sophisticated, causal models that can account for (a) interaction exchanges in the relationships, (b) dyadic as well as individual levels of analysis, and (c) temporal and situational changes in the course of close relationships.     

Self-monitoring and blood pressure

The association between self-monitoring (regulation and control of nonverbal and expressive behavior) and blood pressure was examined in a field study of 594 municipal employees. For persons not taking antihypertensive medication, the Acting/Extraversion scale was mildly positively associated with resting blood pressure among whites in general, blue collar, clerical, and professional groups. Stronger positive correlations were obtained for attorneys and customer service representatives. These results are contrasted with slightly negative associations for blacks in general, first-level supervisors, and a group of previously studied union stewards. An interactive effect was also obtained between Acting/Extraversion and relative participation in work versus nonwork groups and activities; Acting/Extraversion and systolic pressure were inversely related for employees more active in extrawork groups but not related among other workers. Differential consequences of greater or lesser interpersonal involvement and emotional regulation in different jobs are considered.     

Social consensus and the encoding of consistent and inconsistent information: when one's future audience orients information processing

The present study investigated whether and how social consensus affects the way perceivers encode information concerning a deviant member of a stereotyped group. Participants formed an impression of a gay person described by means of both positive and negative behaviours. Participants also learned that they had to communicate their impression to an unidentified audience whose stereotype about gays was unknown or to an ingroup audience which was presented to be either positive or negative about gays. Results indicated that participants who ignored the identity of the audience and its position towards gays devoted more time to examine the information than participants who had been informed about the audience and its opinion about gays. More importantly, participants spent less (more) time to encode information that was in line (at odds) with the stereotype of the audience. Results are discussed in terms of the interplay between cognitive and social factors in general, and of recent evidence about inconsistency‐resolution effect and consensual beliefs in particular. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self-monitoring: appraisal and reappraisal

Theory and research on self-monitoring have accumulated into a sizable literature on the impact of variation in the extent to which people cultivate public appearances in diverse domains of social functioning. Yet self-monitoring and its measure, the Self-Monitoring Scale, are surrounded by controversy generated by conflicting answers to the critical question, Is self-monitoring a unitary phenomenon? A primary source of answers to this question has been largely neglected--the Self-Monitoring Scale's relations with external criteria. We propose a quantitative method to examine the self-monitoring literature and thereby address major issues of the controversy. Application 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 with self-monitoring is and is not.     

Self-monitoring and the association between confidence and accuracy

A personality prediction task in which a confidence rating accompanies each judgment is used to test the hypotheses that self-monitoring is positively related to accuracy, positively related to confidence, negatively related to calibration, and capable of acting as a moderator of the relationship between accuracy and confidence. Data from 101 university students support two of these predictions: High self-monitors exhibit more confidence and poorer calibration than low self-monitors. Concern for appropriateness is found to be unrelated to all other variables studied. Results are discussed in the context of socioanalytic theory and recent theories of self-presentation, affectivity, and the relationship between illusions and well-being.     

Self-monitoring and humor production1

According to reviews by Goodchilds (1972) and Lieberman (1977) of research on humor, the least studied component of the humorous event is the humorous person. Results of two studies investigating the relation between individual differences in self-monitoring and humor production are reported. In the first study, subjects completed a self-report measure of humorousness, captioned as many cartoons as possible within five minutes, and performed a three-minute monologue. The second study involved a group-discussion task. As predicted, high self-monitors compared to low self-monitors rated themselves as more humorous, generated more humorous cartoon captions, produced more humorous monologues, and were nominated by group participants as having made more witty remarks. The humorousness of the high self-monitors was discussed in terms of control of affective display and mastery of interpersonal skills required to initiate and maintain social interaction.     

Controversy and consensus regarding the use of cognitive ability testing in organizations

Seven hundred three members of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology indicated agreement or disagreement with 49 propositions regarding cognitive ability tests in organizations. There was consensus that cognitive ability tests are valid and fair, that they provide good but incomplete measures, that different abilities are necessary for different jobs, and that diversity is valuable. Items dealing with the unique status of cognitive ability were most likely to generate polarized opinions. A 2-factor model, classifying items as those reflecting societal concerns over the consequences of ability testing and those reflecting an emphasis on the unique status of "g," fit the data well, and these factors proved especially important for predicting responses to the more controversial items.     

Compatibility and the use of information processing strategies

When a prominent attribute looms larger in one response procedure than in another, a violation of procedure invariance occurs. A hypothesis based on compatibility between the structure of the input information and the required output was tested as an explanation of this phenomenon. It was also compared with other existing hypotheses in the field. The study had two aims: (1) to illustrate the prominence effect in a selection of preference tasks (choice, acceptance decisions, and preference ratings); (2) to demonstrate the processing differences in a matching procedure versus the selected preference tasks. Hence, verbal protocols were collected in both a matching task and in subsequent preference tasks. Silent control conditions were also employed. The structure compatibility hypothesis was confirmed in that a prominence effect obtained in the preference tasks was accompanied by a lower degree of attention to the attribute levels in these tasks. Furthermore, as predicted from the structure compatibility hypothesis, it was found that fewer comparisons between attribute levels were performed in the preference tasks than in the matching task. It was therefore concluded that both these processing differences may explain the occurrence of the prominence effects. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Aging and the use of advance probability information

Two experiments were performed to investigate the relation between age and use of advance probability information to prepare for a simple response. In both, an occasional presignal occurring about.5 sec before a possible response signal informed the subject that the probability of a response signal had increased from.1 to.5 In experiment 1, 24 women and men selected for short RT were tested, all between 21 and 78 yr of age. Subjects under 50 were able to use the advance information to shorten their RTs as were the majority of older subjects. However, for some older subjects the presignal produced a negative effect, a paradoxical lengthening of RT. In Experiment 2, using five of the older subjects from Experiment 1, more intensive testing was done with closer spacing of trials. Subjects who previously showed a lengthening of RT with the presignal now showed the typical shortening. In summary, over the age span investigated, almost all selected older subjects as well as younger subjects.     

Self-monitoring of stuttering: Reactivity and accuracy

The effects of self-monitoring were examined among 33 adult and adolescent stutterers who were divided into three equal-sized groups representing three levels of self-report accuracy. The overall results were in general agreement with the numerous previous reports of the ameliorative effects of self-observation. However, when the data were examined in relation to level of self-report accuracy, the self-monitoring procedure was found to be reliably reactive only for the least accurate group. This unexpected result may have been due to the influence of differences in the severity of disfluencies between subjects. Moreover, present findings suggest that the discrepant conclusions of previous research on the self-monitoring of stuttering may have been the result of a failure to investigate sufficiently large and representative numbers of subjects.