Self-concept differences as a function of private self-consciousness and social anxiety

Self-Awareness and Self-Consciousness: A Review from the Perspective of Social Psychology

The terms of self-awareness and self-consciousness, which have been mentioned under various different names for centuries, they are also studied experimentally in social psychology. Within the concept of this study, the information about descriptions, raised theories, suggested concepts, significant studies and adjusted scales on these terms are reviewed from the perspective of social psychology. Although there are various different descriptions of these terms under various disciplines and a wide range of relevant literature, this study is approached only from the perspective of social psychology and limited with the most efficient studies included in the published social psychology literature. The review shall be an enlightening source for the researchers studying on social psychology and the self-concept and is concluded with suggestions on further research interests.

Adaptive functions of self-focused attention: Insight and depressive and anxiety symptoms

Maladaptive forms of self-focus, such as rumination, are considered transdiagnostic factors that contribute to depressive and anxiety symptoms. However, no or few studies have explored the possibility that adaptive forms of self-focus can also be a common factor that is negatively associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms. To test this possibility, we first examined the psychometric properties of a scale measuring adaptive forms of self-focus (the Self-Reflection and Insight Scale) on Japanese undergraduates (n=117). We replicated the two-factor structure of the scale: (a) self-reflection, which is a tendency to focus purposefully on self for self-regulation, and (b) insight, which is a sense of clear self-understanding. Second, we tested our specific hypothesis that these two factors negatively predict a common factor of depressive and anxiety symptoms. The results of structural equation modeling showed that insight (but not self-reflection) has a significant negative association with a latent variable that explains both depressive and anxiety symptoms. Furthermore, this common-factor model explained the data better than a control model in which insight predicts depressive and anxiety symptoms individually. These results suggest that (lack of) insight plays an important role in psychological (mal)adjustment as a shared process in depressive and anxiety symptoms.

Effect of Private Self-Awareness on Negative Affect and Self-Referent Attribution: A Quantitative Review

A meta-analysis was conducted to examine the effect of private self-awareness on negative affect and attributions of responsibility to the self. Results of studies manipulating self-awareness using stimuli such as a mirror and studies employing the private subscale of the Self-Consciousness Scale (Fenigstein, Scheier, & Buss, 1975) as a measure of self-consciousness were summarized and compared. A small effect size was found for the effect of private self-awareness for both negative affect and self-referent attribution; the effect was equivalent across mirror and self-report operationalizations of private self-awareness. Moderator analyses revealed that these effects were stronger for women, particularly for studies that used the self-report operationalization and those that investigated self-referent attribution.

Relationship between Private Self-Consciousness and Indices of Reliability and Homogeneity

Previous research has shown that scores on private self-consciousness were related to increased test-retest reliability and internal consistency of responses. To extend these findings to other measures, split-half reliability and Cronbach alpha 84 women and 27 men completed the Self-consciousness Scale and the NEO-Five Factor Inventory. It was hypothesized that subjects scoring high in private self-consciousness would show greater split-half reliability and homogeneity. The results did not support the hypotheses as scores for private self-consciousness were not significantly related to split-half reliability or homogeneity on the NEO-Five Factor Inventory. The present results, combined with previous findings, suggest that private self-consciousness is related to temporal stability of test scores but not to estimates of reliability associated with parallel forms of a test or to internal consistency.

Constraints on Excuse Making: The Deterring Effects of Shyness and Anticipated Retest

Although prior research has documented a pervasive egocentric bias in the self-perceptions, self-ascriptions, and behaviors of most people, shy individuals seem not to share this bias. This study examined whether the apparent absence of an egocentric bias among shy individuals is reflected in their excuse making following poor performance. It also examined whether anticipating a challenge to one's excuses would dissuade even nonshy individuals from making excuses. Shy and nonshy subjects received either success or failure feedback on an intelligence test and then were or were not told that they would be retested. Consistent with predictions, shy individuals refrained from making consistency-lowering excuses regardless of performance feedback and retest instructions. By contrast, nonshy subjects made consistency-lowering excuses after failure feedback, but only when they expected that their excuses would go unchallenged by a retest.

Self-Verification Versus Expectancy Confirmation in Social Interaction

The joint role of self-verification and expectancy-confirmation processes in social interaction was examined. Targets (selves) who had previously rated themselves as sociable or unsociable engaged in unstructured conversations with perceivers who were given the opposite expectancy about the targets' personality. Situationally manipulated self-awareness and dispositionally measured target self-consciousness were examined as potential moderators. Results indicated that neither side won the battle of beliefs: Perceivers were reluctant to abandon their initial expectancies, and selves were even more resistant to changing their self-conceptions. Negative (unsociable) beliefs, however, were more likely to change than positive beliefs. Self-concept change was most likely to occur among low-sociable targets who were high in public self-consciousness. Behavioral ratings also did not reveal a clear-cut winner, although results were more supportive of expectancy-confirmation predictions.

The relationship between structural aspects of self-concept and psychosocial adjustment in adolescents from alcoholic families

Sixty adolescents from alcoholic families living in two large cities in Poland were examined in 2008 and 2009. Richness, stability, and certainty of their self-concepts, as well as levels of school adjustment, anxiety, and depression, were evaluated using a set of questionnaires. In a series of bivariate analyses, the strongest associations found were between richness of the self-concept and the social withdrawal syndrome, and between stability of the self-concept and depression. Both relationships remained significant, using multiple regression models, after controlling for possible confounding factors. Possible explanations and implications for the findings, as well as the study's limitations, are noted and discussed.

Self-concept certainty in social phobia

Two studies are reported which examined the content of beliefs about self-attributes in social phobia, and the level of certainty with which these beliefs are held. The results of both studies indicated that individuals with social phobia held less positive beliefs about their personality characteristics in comparison to non-anxious individuals. In addition, social anxiety was associated with reduced subjective confidence in self-descriptiveness ratings for personality attributes (Study 1), as well as longer reaction times in making self-descriptiveness decisions relative to general decisions about trait adjectives (Study 2). The association between social anxiety and reduced certainty in negative attribute ratings was evident after controlling for depression, general anxiety, stress, and the extent to which negative attributes were endorsed as being self-descriptive. Results are discussed in terms of the potential role that reduced self-concept certainty may play in social phobia.

Psychological mindedness and awareness of self and others

The major goal of this study was to explore the relationship among psychological mindedness (PM) and several facets of awareness, including a general sense of mindfulness (Mindful Attention Awareness Scale; Brown & Ryan, 2003), as well as more specific awareness of self (self-consciousness scale; Fenigstein, Scheier, & Buss, 1975) and others (Interpersonal Reactivity Index; Davis, 1980). Participants were 103 undergraduate students at an urban liberal arts college. Results indicated that PM (PM Scale; Conte, Plutchik, Jung, Picard, Karasu, & Lotterman, 1990) is related to mindfulness (r = .41, p < .01), private self-consciousness (r = .27, p < .05), as well as cognitive (r = .30, p < .01) and affective (r = .35, p < .01) indices of empathy. Self-consciousness and empathy explained a significant amount of variance in PM in a simultaneous-entry multiple regression. These findings support theoretical claims that PM involves awareness of self and others.

Is self-reflectiveness an unhealthy aspect of private self-consciousness?

A number of researchers (M. Conway & C. Giannopoulos, 1993; P. J. Watson & M. D. Biderman, 1993) have suggested that self-reflectiveness is an unhealthy aspect of private self-consciousness related to psychopathology. However, these studies did not control for the significant correlation that exists between self-reflectiveness and subscale factors of public self-consciousness: style consciousness and appearance consciousness. The purpose of this research was to address these interrelationships by comparing correlational results with those obtained from multiple regression analyses. Participants (N = 111) completed the Self-Consciousness Scale (A. Fenigstein, M. F. Scheier, & A. H. Buss, 1975) and the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1992). The results suggested that when the effects of style consciousness and appearance consciousness are controlled, the relationship between self-reflectiveness and neuroticism is nonsignificant. Furthermore, multiple regression analyses suggested a significant relationship between self-reflectiveness and low levels of agreeableness. Aspects of self-consciousness may be better understood in the context of overlapping domains that consider both common and unique variance.

Social-psychological factors affecting help-seeking for emotional problems

Predictors of the attitudinal measure of orientation toward help-seeking for emotional problems have been shown to include demographic, network, and personality variables. This research determined whether these same variables predict the behavioral outcome measure of help-seeking, both in general and from professional services in particular. Help-seeking in response to emotional problems was studied in a sample of Australian adolescents. General help-seeking was predicted by more symptoms of psychological distress, being female, availability of social support, knowing someone who had sought professional help, and the personality characteristics of high private self-consciousness and willingness to disclose mental health. When only those with evident emotional distress were considered, only gender and willingness to disclose remained significant predictors. These same variables did not account for those who sought professional help rather than relying upon their informal network. Level of psychological distress was the only significant predictor of professional consultation. Psychological symptoms and gender were shown to be more relevant predictors of the behavioral measure of help-seeking than network or personality characteristics.

The utility of self-concept as a predictor of recidivism among juvenile offenders

Forty institutionalized male juvenile offenders in the United States were administered a Role Construct Repertory Grid (Kelly, 1955) and the Self-Consciousness Scale (Fenigstein, Scheier, & Buss, 1975) to determine whether frequent offenders could be differentiated from infrequent offenders on the basis of these instruments. We hypothesized that the frequent offenders would have more "delinquent" self-concepts than the infrequent offenders. The results did not confirm this hypothesis. In fact, the frequent offender group actually had fewer delinquent self-concepts than the offender group, although the trend was not statistically significant. This finding is interpreted as an indication that some offenders who acknowledge their delinquent orientation are better able to apply their personal resources toward control of their behavior.

Responses of the socially anxious to the prospect of interpersonal evaluation

We predicted that socially anxious people who are faced with the prospect of an interpersonal evaluation will act in an inhibited and withdrawn way. Subjects who scored low or high on a measure of social anxiety told four stories about themselves to an interviewer. In the anticipated-evaluation condition, the subjects learned that after they had told their stories, the interviewer would tell them her impressions of them. In the control condition, no mention was made of an evaluation. Judges rated transcripts of the stories. As predicted, socially anxious subjects who thought they were going to be evaluated (relative to anxious subjects in the control condition and nonanxious subjects in both conditions) told shorter stories, and the events in their stories were commonplace rather than unique. Their stories were also less revealing about them as individuals, and less vivid. Contrary to a second prediction, socially anxious subjects who expected to be evaluated did not act any less inhibited or withdrawn when their interviewers were described as very trusting than when they were described as very wary. Implications are discussed.

Public and private self-consciousness and social phobia

The relationship between public and private self-consciousness and self-report questionnaires, clinician ratings, and various measures derived from an individualized simulation of an anxiety-provoking situation was examined in a sample of men and women seeking treatment for social phobia. As predicted, public, not private, self-consciousness was generally related to self-report and naive observer ratings of anxiety and to behavioral disruption during the simulation. The predicted relationship between public self-consciousness and how accurately subjects evaluated their performance in the anxiety-provoking situation was marginally supported. Hypotheses regarding the relationship between private self-consciousness and self-reported anxiety during an anxiety-provoking situation, and between private self-consciousness and the correspondence between physiological assessment and self-report, were not supported. The discussion focuses on methodological issues and the theoretical implications of the relationship between self-consciousness and social anxiety.

The Body Esteem Scale: A Convergent and Discriminant Validity Study

This research was intended to further establish convergent and discriminant validity for a recent Body Esteem Scale (BES) which measures different dimensions of body satisfaction in young adults. One hundred and fifty-four male and 193 female undergraduates completed the BES, the Body Consciousness Questionnaire (BCQ), the Self-Esteem Scale, and several questions pertaining to exercise, food intake, and attractiveness. Good convergent and discriminant validity was demonstrated by the Male Upper Body Strength and Physical Condition subscales and by the female Weight Concern, Physical Condition, and Sexual Attractiveness subscales.