The level of self monitoring in university students

The professions of a psychologist and a teacher refer to the type of “person-to-person” professions (socionomic), with the focus on communication, which emphasizes the importance of a high level of communicative skills and a high level of self-control in communication.

The self-control features in communication include: the dominance of the “adult” position, the ability to transmit information; possession of a synergistic communicative style, a certain negativity in judgments about people in the interlocutor's perception and communication style [1]. The signonomic type refers to a person-to-sign profession (e.g., programmers, web designers, engineers) since the interpersonal interaction is minimized, and consequently, the communicative control skills are not being formed in the course of professional interaction [2].

What is Self Monitoring?

Self monitoring is a concept introduced during the 1970s by Mark Snyder, that shows how much people monitor their self-presentations, expressive behavior, and nonverbal affective displays (Table 1). Human beings generally differ in substantial ways in their abilities and desires to engage in expressive controls [3].

Table 1. The Self Monitoring questionnaire (Snyder, 1974)

• 1.I    find it hard to imitate the behavior of other people

• 2.At parties and social gatherings, I do not attempt to do or say things that others will like.

• 3.I    can only argue for ideas which I already believe.

4.I can make impromptu speeches even on topics about which I have almost no information.

• 5.I    guess I put on a show to impress or entertain others.

• 6.I    would probably make a good actor

• 7.I n a group of people I am rarely the center of attention

8.In different situations and with different people, I often act like very different persons

• 9.I    am not particularly good at making other people like me

• 10.I 'm not always the person I appear to be.

• 11.I    would not change my opinions (or the way I do things) in order to please someone or win their favor

• 12.I    have considered being an entertainer

• 13.I    have never been good at games like charades or improvisational acting.

• 14.I    have trouble changing my behavior to suit different people and different situations.

• 15.At a party I let others keep the jokes and stories going.

• 16.I    feel a bit awkward in public and do not show up quite as well as I should

17.I can look anyone in the eye and tell a lie with a straight face

• 18.I    may deceive people by being friendly when I really dislike them

Research hypothesis

The main hypothesis of the study is the assumption that the type of profession affects the level of self-monitoring in communication.

Materials and methods

The self-monitoring questionnaire developed by Snyder covers self-report items like ‘I’m not always the person I appear to be’ that usually were analyzed in a quantitative fashion, i.e., by summing the item responses after coding all items in the same direction. In hundreds of empirical studies, however, a median-split was applied to these sum scores in order to differentiate between two groups of people, the high self monitorer and the low self monitorer. The results of those investigations strongly depend on how well two possibly different kinds of individuals, the high SM and low SM, are represented by such a fifty-fifty splitting of the sample [4].

The questionnaire consists of 10 sentences describing reactions to certain situations. You should evaluate each of them as true or incorrect with reference to yourself. The method is designed to measure social self-control - a person's ability to control his behavior and, thereby, influence the impression that others have about him. The scale makes it possible to distinguish between people who are well able to manage the produced impression (“well controlling themselves”) and people whose behavior is determined by internal settings rather than self-presentation (“badly controlling themselves”). In 1998, the full version of the questionnaire was given (25 items) in the adaptation of N.V. Amyaga, as well as a shortened version (10 items) that is often found in the literature [6].

The study involved 32 full-time students at Kuban State University, namely 16 respondents from the Faculty of Psychology, Pedagogy and Communicative Studies (Group 1) and 16 respondents from the Faculty of Physics and Technology (Group 2) aged from 18 to 20 years.

Results and conclusions

The analysis of the survey results showed that student respondents at the Faculty of Psychology, Pedagogy (Group 1) have a higher level of self-control in communication than student respondents at the Faculty of Physics and Technology (Group 2). In the first group of the respondents, the Snyder questionnaire revealed an average level of self-control in communication: the participants try to look after themselves; in most cases they know where and how to behave and control the expression of their emotions; sometimes they have difficulty in expressing spontaneity; they often dislike unpredictable situations; they often behave differently in different situations; they can be friendly with people they dislike; they think that they would make a good actor; they are not always a person they seem to be. In the course of interaction, psychologists and teachers are sincere, but not restrained in their emotional manifestations; they have no trouble changing their behavior to suit different people and different situations.

In Group 2, the Snyder questionnaire revealed a low level of self monitoring in communication. The level of communicative control has different expressions in both groups, which is associated with the specifics of the professional activity. Thus, based on the results obtained, it can be said that the type of the chosen profession influences the level of self-monitoring in communication.