Linking Dispositions and Social Behavior: Self-Monitoring and Advertising Preferences

Abstract

To help students appreciate the impact of dispositions on social behaviar, I demonstrate to them how a particular disposition (self-monitoring propensity) relates to interesting differences in consumer behaviar. Specifically, this exerdse illustrates that individuals high in self-monitoring tend to be mare responsive to advertisements that appeal to the image of a product, whereas those low in self-monitoring tend to be mare responsive to advertisements that make claims about the quality of a product. Students in a social psychology course evaluated the demonstration as interesting, infarmative, and effective.Social psychologists have devoted considerable attention to understanding the effects of personality and the self on specific social behaviors (Snyder & Ickes, 1985). Despite this attention to the integration of personality and social psychology, students may underestimate the extent to which dispositions influence everyday social behavior. One effective way to demonstrate the link between personality and social behavior is to show students how a disposition they possess (self-monitoring propensity) is related to interesting differences in consumer behavior.