THE SELF-MONITOR SELF-DIAGNOSIS

In 1974, psychologist Mark Snyder developed a 25-question test to determine if an individual is a high or low self-monitor. High self-monitors have a strong ability to evaluate their social situations and respond to subtle social cues in order to present themselves in the best light to the person with whom they are interacting at any given moment. If asked by someone "who are you really?" they would respond, if they did so honestly, "whoever you want me to be." High self-monitors get along well with a wide variety of people, often have many casual sexual relationships, and will often deceive their romantic partners. They tend to chose those romantic partners based on appearance. They do very well as trial attorneys, salesmen, actors, and politicians. They often achieve leadership positions, as they tell people what the people want to hear--regardless what the high self-monitor actually believes.

BILL CLINTON

Low self-monitors tend to be either incompetent or apathetic about how they present themselves and do not easily modify their behavior or beliefs in order to accommodate another person. They lack the antenna to pick up the subtle clues of the reactions of others to them and are thus often socially inept and are not good at sucking up to others in order to impress them. Their reactions and statements to others are usually sincere but also often unfiltered, awkward, and disquieting. Not only do they often not have the ability to follow social conventions, they often simply do not care one way or the other--or, if they do care, they usually are at unease. They tend to choose their romantic partners based on personality.

KING GEORGE VI

Low self-monitors tend to have more successful and stable marriages (and fewer of them). A partner of a low self-monitor knows ahead of time what he or she is getting as a mate, and there are no ugly surprises. On the other hand, a high self-monitor might be charming, caring, and sophisticated prior to marriage but abusive after the knot has been tied when there is no longer any need to maintain the deception.

You can take the original Snyder test yourself to see how you rate. A score from 0-8 indicates that you are a low self-monitor while one from 13-25 indicates that you are a high.