Self-monitoring is a relatively new concept in personality traits, having emerged only about 50 years ago. It refers to ensuring that one’s image in public is appropriate or meets expectations.
It is a spectrum-based personality trait. High self-monitors may be more proactive, such as closely observing their audience’s attitude and behaving as a “social chameleon.” Low self-monitors, on the other hand, tend to express their inner feelings and are consistent across situations, which may make them appear blunt.
Although it is a personality trait, the influence of the environment is obvious. Individualistic and collectivist regions tend to have more low self-monitors and high self-monitors, respectively. The principle is probably that the differences in behavior encouraged by different environments lead to a certain tendency.
This difference also leads to differences in the interpretation and preferences of works in individualistic and collectivist regions. For example, in the game 《Ice Age》, when players accustomed to individualism restrict personal freedom and ultimately complete the game in the form of a totalitarian government, the message “But was it worth it?” is displayed, and players usually reflect on their behavior.
However, KOL players accustomed to collectivism may express it from a politically correct perspective, believing that it is all worthwhile. Although this is the mainstream voice on social media, Steam reviews do not lie. The recommendation rate for Simplified Chinese is as high as 89 %, which is almost the same as the world’s recommendation rate of 92 %, and even higher than the recommendation rate of 85 % for Japanese. (It may also be that Simplified Chinese players who are willing to pay for games on Steam are relatively less susceptible to collectivism)
Another manifestation may be that high self-monitors are more willing to socialize anonymously online. Kaspersky conducted a survey in the Asia-Pacific region on the prevalence of anonymous social media accounts, and the results showed that it was as high as 35 % in Southeast Asia and 28 % in South Asia, while it was only 20 % in Australia. Although data from Europe and the United States is lacking, it should be similar to Australia and relatively low.
P.S.: There are still many controversies and confusions in the research on self-monitoring, so this should be a theory with obvious flaws and needs to be improved.