The British journal of social psychology
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We examined whether high self-monitors cognitively process self-presentation-related information and concepts more readily than low self-monitors. Results across three studies indicate that compared to low self-monitors, high self-monitors have greater cognitive access to self-presentation-related information and concepts. High self-monitors produced more words related to self-presentation in a shorter amount of time (Study 1) and in a cognitive load condition (Study 2). ⋯ In Study 3, high (vs. low) self-monitors showed faster reaction time to self-presentation-related concepts. In contrast, reaction time to non-self-presentation items did not differ. The findings contribute to both the theory and knowledge of self-monitoring by demonstrating that information processing related to self-presentational concepts is an important component of self-monitoring, in that such information is more cognitively accessible to high self-monitors.