Private and public self-consciousness and articulation of the self-schema.

Two studies assessed recognition memory of interpersonal traits that subjects had rated according to either private self-reference (Study 1) or public self-reference (Study 2). Both studies also administered the Self-Consciousness Scale, which permitted a dual classification of subjects according to private self-consciousness (high and low) and public self-consciousness (high and low). Study 1 revealed a private false alarms effect (FAE), the strength of which was moderated by private self-consciousness, whereas Study 2, revealed a public FAE, the strength of which was moderated by public self-consciousness. From the convergent and discriminant evidence, two hypotheses received support—namely, that (a) individuals articulate both private and public components of the self-schema, and (b) private self-consciousness predicts the extent to which individuals articulate the private component, whereas public self-consciousness predicts the extent to which individuals articulate the public component. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent self-disclosure and loneliness: Private self-consciousness and parental influences.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 49(1) of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (see record 2008-10979-001). In this article, there was an error in Figure 2 and an error in its caption. The figure and caption are corrected in the erratum.] Structural equation techniques were used to test a theoretical model designed to describe the causal relations existing among loneliness, self-disclosure to peers and parents, and specific antecedent variables. 350 high school students completed the short version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale and measures of interpersonal reactivity and private self-consciousness. Results indicate a good fit between the theoretical model and the observed relations. In addition to replicating the findings of previous studies concerning the relation between self-disclosure and loneliness, results also indicate an indirect relation between private self-consciousness and loneliness via peer self-disclosure: High private self-conscious Ss' greater willingness to self-disclose to peers resulted in their feeling less lonely. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of parental variables, sex differences, and the motivational bases of self-reflection. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-image versus impressional management in adherence to distributive justice standards: The influence of self-awareness and self-consciousness.

In Exp I (88 undergraduates), a paradigm was developed to examine how Ss responded to conflicts arising from attempts to make favorable impressions on themselves and others by making decisions about the division of a reward. It was found that divergent self-presentational concerns conflicted when Ss who were made self-aware allocated reward to competing workers while anticipating interaction with the low-input recipient. Exp II, with 112 high and low self-conscious Ss (determined by the Self-Consciousness Scale), found that resolution of conflict was influenced by the combined impact of manipulations of self-awareness and dispositional differences in self-consciousness. High private-self-conscious Ss who were made self-aware distributed reward in accordance with the personally salient equity standard; high public-self-conscious Ss who were not made self-aware attempted to make a favorable impression on the low-input recipient by dividing the pay equally. The salience of intrapersonal and social standards as vehicles of self-presentation is discussed with respect to their implications for distributive justice. (49 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Private self-consciousness and the five-factor model of personality: Distinguishing rumination from reflection.

A distinction between ruminative and reflective types of private self-attentiveness is introduced and evaluated with respect to L. R. Goldberg's (1982) list of 1,710 English trait adjectives (Study 1), the five-factor model of personality (FFM) and A. Fenigstein, M. F. Scheier, and A. Buss's (1976) Self-Consciousness Scales (Study 2), and previously reported correlates and effects of private self-consciousness (PrSC; Studies 3 and 4). Results suggest that the PrSC scale confounds two unrelated, motivationally distinct dispositions—rumination and reflection—and that this confounding may account for the "self-absorption paradox" implicit in PrSC research findings: Higher PrSC scores are associated with more accurate and extensive self-knowledge yet higher levels of psychological distress. The potential of the FFM to provide a comprehensive framework for conceptualizing self-attentive dispositions, and to order and integrate research findings within this domain, is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Deindividuation, self-awareness, and disinhibition.

Assessed whether lack of self-awareness and conscious planning, group unity, and disinhibited behavior occurred together in deindividuating settings as predicted by E. Diener's (1979) theory of deindividuation. The characteristics and effects of group-induced deindividuation with non-socially-induced non-self-awareness was also compared. The 3 conditions were deindividuated, non-self-aware, and self-aware. After the manipulations, 126 undergraduates chose inhibited vs disinhibited tasks in a supposed "creativity" session, followed by a variety of deindividuation measures. Results reveal that the deindividuation group surpassed the other 2 on the deindividuation factor and on most of the individual measures. For some of the variables, the deindividuation and non-self-aware groups differed significantly, suggesting that deindividuation may not be identical in every respect to lack of self-awareness induced in a non-social way. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Paranoia and self-consciousness.

Presented, in Study 1, a new instrument designed to assess paranoid thought in college students, together with reliability and validity data. A single general factor accounted for a substantial portion of the variance in the full scale. Public self-consciousness was consistently and significantly correlated with the present measure of paranoia. In Study 2, both pretested paranoia and public self-consciousness were related to feelings of being watched (a classical manifestation of paranoia), although public self-consciousness had an effect only when there was a 2-way mirror present. In Study 3, self-attention, experimentally induced using a story construction task, again resulted in a heightened sense of being observed. Discussion focuses on paranoid cognition as characteristic of everyday thought and the implications of self-attention for social perception processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mood, self-awareness, and willingness to help.

Two experiments using female subjects investigated the effects of mood and self-focused attention on the willingness to help another. Experiment 1 induced a positive, negative, or neutral mood and also two kinds of high self-awareness (by either the mirror procedure or requiring essays) as well as a low self-awareness condition. Experiment 2 used a different technique to induce the three moods and also established either high or low attention to the self with the mirror procedure. In both studies, self-awareness did not interact significantly with mood in affecting the subjects' reported feelings, although there were indications in Experiment 2 of an intensification of the negative mood under self-focus. Furthermore, in both studies self-awareness operated together with the positive mood to increase the subjects' effort in behalf of the supplicant, whereas the joint operation of self-focus and negative mood was much weaker. Also in the second experiment, self-awareness raised the frequency of positive ideas about the self in the happy subjects and increased the frequency of negative self-ideas in the negative mood group. In a multiple regression analysis, these frequencies of positive and negative ideas about the self, but not a mood index, successfully predicted the amount of work the subject did for the supplicant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nonconsciousness of self-consciousness.

Five studies demonstrated that private self-consciousness is associated with nonconscious, automatic behaviors. In 2 studies, high but not low self-conscious individuals walked more slowly following exposure to an implicit elderly prime. In a 3rd study, high but not low self-conscious individuals showed improved performance following exposure to a subliminal success prime relative to a subliminal failure prime. In a 4th study, subliminal exposure to an angry prime was shown to increase blood pressure relative to a relax prime. In a final study, the latter effect was shown to be true only for high self-conscious individuals and only for subliminal presentations. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding a variety of effects associated with self-consciousness and self-awareness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-focusing effects of dispositional self-consciousness, mirror presence, and audience presence.

Notes that self-awareness theory has generated a considerable amount of research activity; however, the most widely used manipulation of self-focus—the mirror—has not been satisfactorily validated. Exp I was an attempt to do so. At the same time an attempt was made to validate the Self-Consciousness Scale (SCS), an instrument designed to measure chronic dispositions to be self-attentive. 79 female undergraduates responded to a sentence completion blank either in an empty room or while facing a mirror. Results indicate that the mirror does manipulate, and the private subscale of the SCS does measure, self-attention. Exp II, with 81 female undergraduates, was a replication of the 1st study, but using an audience instead of a mirror. Results indicate that audience presence also heightens self-attention. Implications for attentional analyses of social behavior are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent loneliness, self-disclosure, and private self-consciousness: A longitudinal investigation.

Examined the causal relations that exist among loneliness, self-disclosure, and private self-consciousness, building on an earlier study by S. L. Franzoi and M. H. Davis (see record 1985-19892-001). Using structural equation techniques and a longitudinal design, a theoretical model that links these variables was tested with 332 high school students. Results indicate a good fit between the theoretical model and the observed relations. Evidence concerning 2 alternative interpretations of the original Franzoi and Davis study is provided. First, the original hypothesis that private self-consciousness leads to greater self-disclosure to peers is supported, but no support for the alternative view that such disclosure in turn increases private self-consciousness is provided. Second, the original hypothesis that greater self-disclosure reduces loneliness and the alternative view that greater loneliness reduces self-disclosure receive some support from the data. The difficulty in obtaining significant longitudinal paths (from Year 1 to Year 2) suggests that the time lags in the variables' effects on one another are relatively short. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-esteem, self-consciousness, and task performance: Replications, extensions, and possible explanations.

Previous research has suggested that the task performance of low self-esteem individuals (low SEs) is impaired under conditions designed to increase self-focused attention. Task-focusing, rather than self-focusing, manipulations have actually bolstered the achievement of low SEs. The results of the present 2 experiments with 207 undergraduates demonstrated that the performance of low SEs on a concept formation task was affected by a variety of attentional manipulations. As before, task-focusing instructions enhanced and self-focusing stimuli impaired their performance on a concept formation task (Study 1). Similar results were obtained for Ss who scored high (but not for those who scored low) on an individual difference measure of self-consciousness. Study 2 also demonstrated that when the task-focusing manipulation worked, it neutralized the adverse effects of the self-focusing stimulus on the low SEs' performance. Supplementary data suggested that the manipulations generally had their intended effects on attentional focus and that attentional focus influenced performance. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapists' personal therapy and professional self-awareness.

Surveyed 185 doctoral-level psychologists, averaging 16 yrs of experience, who responded to questions about their personal therapy histories and provided their professional reactions to 25 hypothetical psychotherapy situations. Results suggest that awareness of countertransference issues was highly significantly and positively related to the amount of personal therapy a therapist had received. Data also suggest a relationship between countertransference and the therapist claiming a psychoanalytic orientation, receiving personal therapy from a psychoanalytically oriented therapist, and having attended a psychoanalytically oriented training program. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Public and private self-consciousness and emotional expressivity.

Investigated the moderating effect of both private and public self-consciousness (Self-Consciousness Scale) on the predictive validity of self-reported emotional expressivity. After writing stories about their expression of anger and elation, 46 Ss were brought into the lab to enact their responses to standardized anger- and elation-arousing situations. Predictions of higher self-report–criterion correlations for low public self-conscious persons were supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical scrutiny of litigants' self-reports.

As more psychotherapists enter forensic practice, fundamental differences between patients in treatment and patients in personal injury litigation require adjustment of clinicians' orientation toward patients. Therapists' traditional support, acceptance, and empathy toward patients in psychotherapy must be supplemented with increased objectivity regarding plaintiffs' self-presentation. Adopting a more investigative attitude toward patients' self-reports may represent for some therapists an uncomfortable transformation of the traditional therapeutic relationship. Awareness of the reasons for disparities between patients in these two roles can improve clinical judgment. Clinicians are advised to become knowledgeable about these issues and to adopt a more analytical, data-oriented attitude toward patients' self-reports when conducting forensic examinations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prosocial self-schemas, self-awareness, and children's prosocial behavior

Three studies examined the hypothesis that a child's prosocial self-schema predicts prosocial behavior. In Study 1, only self-aware boys showed a self-schema-behavior relation. Study 2 altered both salience of donating opportunity and relationship of recipient to donor. The hypothesized Self-Awareness x Self-Schema interaction was significant, and there were no gender differences. Study 3 systematically manipulated the salience of the donating opportunity. All participants were self-aware. For boys in high and low salience conditions, prosocial self-schema predicted donating behavior. For girls, prosocial self-schema predicted behavior only in the high salience condition. The findings demonstrate that self-schemas can regulate behavior when participants are self-aware. Girls, however, may require higher salience of the donating opportunity for the self-schema to affect their behavior.     

The effects of self-esteem, success–failure, and self-consciousness on task performance.

Research has demonstrated that task performance of low self-esteem individuals (low SEs) suffers in the presence of self-focusing stimuli (e.g., a mirror). The present study determined if such stimuli must inevitably have adverse effects on low SEs. It was reasoned that if low SEs were provided with success feedback from a previous task, then the nature of their self-consciousness would be altered on a subsequent task. Specifically, low SEs should attend more to positive and less anxiety-provoking aspects of themselves than would low SEs who received failure feedback from the previous task. Under the former condition, low SEs' subsequent task performance was expected to improve. For high SEs, who typically perform well, success–failure feedback was expected to have little effect on subsequent performance. 90 undergraduates high and low in chronic self-esteem received false success or failure feedback from a task and completed a concept formation task in either the presence or absence of a mirror. Whereas high SEs performed equally well following success or failure, low SEs in the success condition performed significantly better than low SEs in the failure condition. This Self-Esteem?×?Prior Feedback interaction was significant in the presence of the mirror but not its absence. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Investigation of the uses of self-reports of abilities.

Investigated whether self-ratings of ability can be used as substitutes for ability tests in an industrial setting. 114 undergraduates first completed a questionnaire asking them to rate themselves on 10 ability areas. The Ss were then given a battery of tests designed to test these same ability areas. Tests included the Employee Aptitude Survey Test of Visual Pursuit and Manual Speed and Accuracy, the Revised Minnesota Paper Forms Board Test, Personnel Tests for Industry—Verbal and Numerical, the Otis Self-Administering Tests of Mental Ability, and the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test. In addition, the potential moderator effects of sex, general intelligence, self-esteem, and social desirability were investigated. Correlations between self-rated and tested abilities, although generally significant, were too small to have any practical significance. The self-ratings were also unable to diffentiate between those who would score high and low on the ability tests, even for extreme self-rated groups. No moderator effects were found. It is concluded that self-reports of ability could not substitute for ability tests. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Public and private self-consciousness: Assessment and theory.

Describes the development of a scale to assess individual differences in self-consciousness. Construction of the scale involved testing the 38 initial items with 130 female and 82 male undergraduates. A principal components factor analysis of the data yielded 3 factors accounting for 43% of the variance: Private Self-Consciousness, Public Self-Consciousness, and Social Anxiety. The final version of the scale, which contained 23 items, was administered to several groups of undergraduates (N = 668) to obtain norms, test-retest (2 wks), subscale correlation, and reliability data. Test-retest reliabilities were .84 for the Public Self-Consciousness scale, .79 for the Private Self-Consciousness scale, .73 for the Social Anxiety scale, and .80 for the total score. Public Self-Consciousness correlated moderately with both Private Self-Consciousness and Social Anxiety, while the correlation of Private Self-Consciousness with Social Anxiety fluctuated around zero. No sex differences in scores were observed. Implications for research and therapy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interaction between self-monitoring and manipulated states of self-awareness.

We conducted four experiments to examine the differential responses of high and low self-monitors to variations in public and private self-awareness. The first 2 experiments used an attribution of responsibility paradigm to test the hypothesis that high self-monitors would show greater responsiveness than low self-monitors to manipulations of public self-awareness. This hypothesis was supported. Two additional experiments tested the hypothesis that low self-monitors would be more responsive than high self-monitors to manipulations of private self-awareness. Manipulations of private self-awareness following a Velten (1968) positive-mood induction exercise strengthened the induced mood in low but not in high self-monitors. Thus, when the dependent measure had implications for their public self, high self-monitors were more responsive than low self-monitors to public self-awareness manipulations; low self-monitors, on the other hand, were more responsive than high self-monitors to manipulations of private self-awareness when the dependent measure required subjects to access aspects of their private self. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)