Definition
Self-monitoring is tracking your own behaviour against a standard — often an imagined observer — before and during action.
Origin
Central to Carver and Scheier’s control-theory account of self-regulation and to Fenigstein’s public self-consciousness construct.
Mechanism
Feedback loop: standard → compare → adjust → repeat. When the standard is social approval, the loop tightens and can delay reps or shrink offers. Public self-consciousness research shows the imagined audience often runs hotter than any real observer — the monitor fires before objective risk is high.
Applications
Useful for naming why visibility work feels costly before objective risk is high — pairs with Self-consciousness and Performed identity.
Sources
Cite
- Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1981). Attention and self-regulation: A control-theory approach to human behavior. Springer
- Fenigstein, A., Scheier, M. F., & Buss, A. H. (1975). Public and private self-consciousness. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 43(4), 522–527.