Question

Question: When looking at most literature, self-monitoring is considered to always be a good thing. do you believe that self-monitoring is good, bad, or some of both? Please support your answer. (min. 250 words)

Answer 1

Self-monitoring is usually considered as a good thing, but it is a little bad thing also. It is somewhere between good or bad thing. People who are closely monitoring themselves usually behave in a manner that is highly responsive to social cues and their situational context. But, excessive and unrealistic self-monitoring can be detrimental to one’s performance as well as their psychological and physical well-being. Self-monitoring is considered as a strategy that allows people to self-access their behavior and record the outcomes. Though it does not create new skills, and talent; Self-monitoring does increase the frequency or decrease it, intensity, or duration of existing behavior. It also saves time of superiors to monitor an individual’s behavior. Self-monitoring is considered as a personality trait that described as an ability to regulate behavior to accommodate social situation.

There are two types of self-monitoring: high self monitors and low self-monitors. Low self monitors tend to use their inner beliefs and values in detecting how to behave; whereas high self-motivators tend to monitor their surroundings and change their behavior according to the situation and to fit in the environment.

Self-monitoring is somewhere between good or bad because excessive or unrealistic monitoring is bad for an individual; while accurate and realistic monitoring is good for an individual. Self-monitoring helps in self management. People who are self-monitor tend to be very aware of how others perceive their actions and usually adjust their actions accordingly to create the desired public appearance they want to put forward. Some people who are more spontaneous tend to be low-self monitors. Being spontaneous is also good or bad for an individual.

Self-monitoring is a psychological behavior and has the potential to be harmful for an individual. Psychologists believes that there is a time and a place for self-monitoring.