self-monitoring media n. a personality characteristic that explains an individual’s tendency to engage in expressive self-presentation controls. High self-monitors engage in careful expressive control by closely monitoring themselves in relation to context; they are receptive to situational and social cues and adapt themselves in order to project positive public self-images. The expressive controls of low self-monitors are linked to their internal states, for example, their beliefs and attitudes; as such these individuals are less concerned with social norms and with adapting to notions of public propriety, than with consistency to their worldview. SJ
