The two faces of private self-consciousness: self report, peer-report, and behavioral correlates

✍ Scribed by Alexander T. Creed; David C. Funder

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 177 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0890-2070
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0984(199811/12)12:6<411::aid-per317>3.0.co;2-c

✦ Synopsis

The positive and negative aspects of private self-consciousness were examined through a variety of methods. Previous analyses have revealed that the private self-consciousness factor of the Self-Consciousness Scale (SCS) consists of two factors . A principal-components analysis con®rmed the presence of these factors in a new sample of 149 undergraduates (83 females, 66 males), and identi®ed the relevant items. Scores on these factors, named internal state awareness and self-re¯ectiveness, exhibited a markedly dierent pattern of personality correlates with both self-and peer descriptions of personality and scores on three of the Big-Five NEO-PI Factors. While the content of the correlates of internal state awareness is almost universally positive, that of self-re¯ectiveness is largely negative in both selfand peer descriptions of personality. These results suggest that, while a high level of self-re¯ectiveness may entail a psychologically maladaptive style of private selfconsciousness, a high level of internal state awareness may be one manifestation of psychological health.