The emotional consequences of social pragmatism: the psychophysiological correlates of self-monitoring

Self-monitoring refers to the extent to which people regulate their self-presentation by tailoring their behaviors to social situations. To examine the psychophysiological correlates of self-monitoring, we measured heart rate, skin conductance level, and EEG alpha of the frontal and parietal scalp regions during baseline and while anticipating an impromptu speech task. High self-monitors showed lower cortical activity in the frontal and parietal scalp regions than low self-monitors. Furthermore, self-monitoring scores were negatively correlated with skin conductance level when anticipating social threat. Social anxiety and depression did not account for these results. The findings suggest that high self-monitors show lower autonomic and cortical arousal than low self-monitors when anticipating social stress.