What is self-observation and how does it affect social relationships?

It is enough to sit with a group of people for a while, and watch them interact, to identify differences. Some will tend to attract attention, while others will prefer to stay in the background. There will be those who display all their charisma, modulate their voice and react expressively, and those who limit themselves to being more natural and carefree. This division of attitudes can be explained based on an interesting concept: self-observation in social relationships.

Self-observation can be defined as the degree to which a person adapts his or her behavior to the social context.. That is, the level at which she monitors herself to respond in a socially desirable and appropriate way.

Our use of this skill can determine the success of our interactions, but it also says a lot about our own personality. Do you want to know more about it? So, continue reading.

What is self-observation?

Self-observation is a concept proposed by social psychologist Mark Snyder to account for how people handle themselves in their social relationships; specifically, of how much attention they pay to their behavior and whether it conforms to social expectations.

Sometimes the term self-monitoring and related terms such as self-control and self-presentation are also used. Ultimately, what we are analyzing is the importance that the image they are projecting to others has for that person and to what degree does she supervise herself? for that projection to be positive.

Along with self-observation theory, Snyder designed a valuable scale when evaluating this trait. In other words, it determines where they are on the continuum. In it, the subject is asked to rate his or her degree of agreement or disagreement with statements such as the following:

I’m not always the person I seem to be. I laugh more when I’m watching a comedy with other people than if I’m alone. I’m rarely the center of attention in groups. I tend to show different parts of myself to different people. I try to pay attention to others’ reactions to my behavior to avoid being out of character.

Self-observation in social relationships: where are you?

Depending on the answers given to the questionnaire, the person obtains a score that places them in the high, low or intermediate zone of the self-observation continuum. Generally, there are some common characteristics for subjects who share similar scores, as you will be able to read below.

People with high self-monitoring

This includes people who pay close attention to their own behavior and how others see it. Its characteristics are the following:

They are extroverted and oriented towards other people.They act depending on the context and are governed by specific situations. They tend to supervise and monitor their behavior to adapt it to social demands.They are more sensitive to the expression and self-presentation of others. They are good at extracting clues and reading those in front of them. They usually have different friends for different activities, they tend to segregate the audience.

People with low self-observation

The most internally focused people, so to speak, are classified in the low self-observation group. These are its most common features:

They are introverted and self-oriented.They are governed by their principles, beliefs and personal dispositions, regardless of the context in which they are found. Therefore, they do not change depending on the situation. They are not usually observed to adapt to the context; They are, if you will, more spontaneous and carefreeThey have “friends for everything”, they do not differentiate them based on the activity.

It is worth mentioning that these characteristics represent the highest and lowest scores, but a large part of the population is in intermediate positions. Therefore, it is likely that you do not feel 100% identified with any of the previous descriptions.

What repercussions does this trait have on a social and personal level?

The degree of self-observation has a great influence at the social level. Those with high self-monitoring tend to be more charismatic and successful in their interactions. with the others, they are the center of attention and adapt better to the demands of different contexts.

For their part, those who show a low level of self-observation may more frequently experience social rejection or experience unsatisfactory interactions. To some degree They are not very sensitive to the norm and this can cause problems.

Finally, life is a great theater and these people worry less about taking care of the script. Furthermore, it has been observed that they may present a greater risk of suffering from depression, since by maintaining such a cohesive image of themselves, any situation that threatens one of their roles would have a greater overall impact.

However, it is not a pathological or negative trait in itself. It has been proven that low self-observation is related to higher implicit self-esteem; That is, in these people there is less difference between their real self and their ideal self. Besides, When it comes to relating to others on an emotional or sexual level, they are more likely to prioritize personality over physical appearance.

In short, the objective will always be to refine our tendencies in order to find a balance that is functional for us on a daily basis. Adapting socially can bring us great advantages, But being excessively worried about how we project ourselves and how others see us can trigger anxiety problems. Thus, in the middle point we will find virtue.

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