On the basis of the assumption that Latino Americans use a simpático self-schema more than White Americans do, the authors predicted that the effects of this difference would be evident in the participants' self-concepts and social behavior. As predicted, Studies 1 and 2 revealed that Latino participants reported significantly more simpático-related terms in their spontaneous self-concepts than did White participants. Complementing these findings, Study 3a revealed that the level of interactional involvement and the perceived quality of initial same-sex interactions was significantly enhanced by the presence of Latino dyad members. Study 3b tested the prediction that the content of the dyad members' thoughts and feelings would reveal a greater use of the simpático self-schema by the Latino participants. This prediction was confirmed, and follow-up analyses indicated that a simpático self-schema plays an important mediating role in the subjective experience and social behavior of Latino individuals.
In this review, we examine the role of self-monitoring in social interaction. We first note that the presumed ease with which self-monitors adapt to new social contexts is more apparent than real, being the self-conscious outcome of (1) high self-monitors' preference for clearly defined situations, (2) their use of scripts regarding typical situations, (3) their ability to formulate effective plans of action before social encounters, and (4) their ability to use other people's behavior as a guide. We then examine the strong motive of high self-monitors to express and evoke high levels of positive affect in their interpersonal relationships. Two recent unstructured dyadic interaction studies lead us to argue that the primary concern of high self-monitors during social interaction is to regulate their own self-affect through effective impression management. In this sense, it really is the self that is closely monitored whenever self-monitoring processes influence social interaction.
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