Some Effects of Deception and Level of Self-Monitoring on Planning and Reacting to a Self-Presentation

This experiment addressed issues in impression management. First, this study investigated whether type of impression intended (accurate or fabricated) and level of self-monitoring (high or low) affect the amount of information about a target person that individuals would acquire, at some cost to themselves, prior to interacting with that person. As predicted, high self-monitors planning a fabrication purchased more information than high self-monitors planning an accurate impression or low self-monitors planning either type of impression. In addition, reactions of both participants to the actor's performance were analyzed. Impression type affected both actors' and targets' reactions, whereas self-monitoring affected only the targets' ratings.