Is Self-Monitoring Related to Social Comparison? It Depends How You Ask

Self-monitoring and social comparison are theoretically related, as the former involves searching the environment for information to inform changes in one's own behavior and the latter involves seeking out social information for the purposes of comparison. We examined the relation between these two constructs, while simultaneously examining how scale choice for self-monitoring can greatly influence one's results and possible conclusions. Self-monitoring measures differed in their relation with social comparison based on their theoretical background. Moreover, self-monitoring measures related to social comparison exhibited diverging relations with the two major aspects of social comparison. These results illuminate our understanding of self-monitoring and social comparison, and the psychometric distinction between construct and measurement.