State of the Art

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.     

大学生自尊与网络过激行为的关系:社交焦虑和双自我意识的作用

本研究探讨了自尊与网络过激行为的关系,以391名大学生为被试,采用问卷法考察了社交焦虑在自尊与网络过激行为关系中的中介作用,以及该过程是否受到公我意识、私我意识水平的调节。结果发现：（1）在控制了性别、年龄后,自尊对网络过激行为具有负向预测作用;（2）社交焦虑在自尊和网络过激行为间起部分中介作用;（3）公我意识调节自尊对网络过激行为的直接作用。相对于公我意识水平高的大学生,直接效应对公我意识水平低的大学生更显著;（4）自尊对社交焦虑的作用还受到个体私我意识的调节,相对于私我意识水平低的大学生,间接效应对于私我意识水平高的大学生更显著。     

Effects of Self-Consciousness and Social Anxiety on Self-Disclosure among Unacquainted Individuals: An Application of the Social Relations Model

Recent research has demonstrated a positive relationship between private self-consciousness and the tendency to self-disclose. These studies have relied exclusively upon self-reports of disclosure. In the present study, Kenny's Social Relations Model (Kenny & La Voie, 1984) was employed to examine the relationship between a subject's self-reports and others' reports of a subject's level of self-disclosure and the relationship of these reports to private self-consciousness, as well as the other traits measured by the self-consciousness scale: public self-consciousness and social anxiety. Unacquainted college women (N = 102) participated in one-on-one interactions in a round-robin design. Subject's self-reports of disclosure and their levels of private self-consciousness correlated positively. The partners' reports of an individual's disclosure, however, were not related to the individual's level of private self-consciousness. The discrepancy between these correlations emphasizes the necessity to ground research in personal relationships on interacting pairs and not only on the self-reports of one member. Future research that would explore this difference is discussed. The examination of the self- and partner reports and subjects' levels of public self-consciousness and social anxiety demonstrated that these two traits significantly influence the acquaintance process. Public self-consciousness related positively to subjects' beliefs that they had created consistent impressions upon their partners. Social anxiety correlated negatively with partners' reports of a subject's dyadic involvement and openness.     

Concordance between clinicians' and patients' ratings of anxiety and depression as mediated by private self-consciousness

This study assesses the relations between the ratings of clinicians and psychiatric inpatients on several anxiety and depression measures, as mediated by private self-consciousness. The overall concordance between clinicians' and patients' ratings is quite high, particularly on the depression measures. Levels of private self-consciousness do not appear to mediate concordance of structured behavior or symptom-based ratings of either anxiety or depression; however, there is limited support for levels of private self-consciousness mediating concordance between patients' global ratings of anxiety and clinicians' anxiety ratings.     

Self-consciousness and aspects of identity

This study investigated the relationship between public and private self-consciousness and social and personal aspects of identity. As predicted by self-consciousness theory, public self-consciousness correlated significantly more strongly with social than with personal aspects of identity, and private self-consciousness correlated significantly more strongly with personal than with social aspects of identity. Implications for the psychology of identity are discussed.     

Day-to-day relationships between self-awareness, daily events, and anxiety

Every day for 3 weeks, 41 participants provided measures of their state private and public self-consciousness (self-awareness, SA), and anxiety, and they described the events that occurred each day. Multilevel random coefficient modeling analyses found that daily private and public SA were positively related to the importance and frequency of daily negative social events and to daily anxiety. Public SA was also positively related to the importance and frequency of daily positive social events. Neither public nor private SA was related to the importance and frequency of daily achievement events. The strength of the relationship between public SA and positive social events was stronger for people who were less anxious, less depressed, and for those with greater self-esteem. Analyses of lagged relationships suggested that increased private SA led to increased negativity of social events, whereas increased public SA led to increased positivity of social events, and increased anxiety led to increased private SA.     

Examining the Role of Implicit Emotional Judgments in Social Anxiety and Experiential Avoidance

This study sought to examine the relationship of implicit emotional judgments with experiential avoidance (EA) and social anxiety. A sample of 61 college students completed the Emotional Judgment – Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (EJ-IRAP) as well as a public speaking challenge. Implicit judgments were related to greater self-reported EA, anxiety sensitivity, emotional judgments and social anxiety as well as lower performance ratings and willingness in the public speaking challenge. Effects differed by trial type with “Anxiety is bad” biases related to greater EA/anxiety, while “calm is bad” biases related to lower EA/anxiety (“Good” biases were generally unrelated to outcomes). Implicit emotional judgments moderated the relationship of heart rate during the speech with speech time and willingness, such that increases in heart rate were only related to lower speech time and willingness among those high in implicit judgments. Implicit judgments predicted social anxiety above and beyond self-report EA measures. Implicit emotional judgments appear to have a functional role in EA and anxiety that warrants further research.     

Aggression, alcohol dependency, and self-consciousness among high school students of divorced and nondivorced parents.

134 high school students from a small high school in north central Kansas completed the MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale, Fenigstein, et al.'s Self-consciousness Scale, and Zaks' Aggression Scale. Analyses of variance showed significant differences between boys and girls but not among grades. On the aggression and alcohol measures boys scored higher than girls, but lower on public self-consciousness. Youth of divorced parents scored significantly higher than those of nondivorced parents on aggression, private self-consciousness, and general self-consciousness. Aggression scores were significantly and positively correlated with those on the alcohol and private self-consciousness scales. When students' alcoholism scores indicate problems with alcohol, their scores on aggression indicate greater aggression and their private self-consciousness scores indicate sensitivity toward events in their environment, then having concerns about inner self can inhibit the action required for change. MacAndrew scores correlated significantly and negatively with scores on social anxiety about self-consciousness. When MacAndrew scores indicated problems with alcohol, the students' scores on social anxiety about self-consciousness suggested confidence in social settings, being at ease interacting with people. The present study involved students from a single rural district so increased understanding will require more extensive research if strategies for prevention and intervention are to be developed and utilized.     

Predicting post-event processing in social anxiety disorder following two prototypical social situations: State variables and dispositional determinants

This study investigated self-reported state (anxiety, physical symptoms, cognitions, internally focused attention, safety behaviors, social performance) and trait (social anxiety, depressive symptoms, dysfunctional self-consciousness) predictors of post-event processing (PEP) subsequent to two social situations (interaction, speech) in participants with a primary diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (SAD) and healthy controls (HC). The speech triggered significantly more intense PEP, especially in SAD. Regardless of the type of social situation, PEP was best predicted by situational anxiety and dysfunctional cognitions among the state variables. If only trait variables were considered, PEP following both situations was accounted for by trait social anxiety. In addition, dysfunctional self-consciousness contributed to PEP-speech. If state and trait variables were jointly considered, for both situations, situational anxiety and dysfunctional cognitions were confirmed as the most powerful PEP predictors above and beyond trait social anxiety (interaction) and dysfunctional self-consciousness (speech). Hence, PEP as assessed on the day after a social situation seems to be mainly determined by state variables. Trait social anxiety and dysfunctional self-consciousness also significantly contribute to PEP depending on the type of social situation. The present findings support dysfunctional cognitions as a core cognitive mechanism for the maintenance of SAD. Implications for treatment are discussed.     

他人定向变量影响青少年孤独感和社交焦虑:人际能力作中介

利用自我意识量表中的公众自我意识分量表和社交焦虑分量表,人际能力量表和青少年孤独感量表调查465名高中生,探索社会观点采择、公众自我意识和同伴交往中的人际能力对青少年情绪适应的影响。结果表明:青少年社会观点采择和公众自我意识直接正向预测其人际能力和社交焦虑;人际能力分别负向预测青少年的孤独感和社交焦虑;人际能力在青少年的社会观点采择和孤独感之间,以及在公众自我意识和孤独感之间分别起完全中介作用;人际能力在青少年的社会观点采择和社交焦虑之间,以及在公众自我意识和社交焦虑之间分别起部分中介作用。进一步分析表明,社会观点采择以及公众自我意识对不同情境下的人际能力的影响存在显著差异。讨论了从社会观点采择和公众自我意识出发,提高青少年人际能力,对缓解其孤独感和社交焦虑的重要意义。     

Turkish Version of Self-Reflection and Insight Scale: A Preliminary Study for Validity and Reliability of the Constructs

The current study aims to explore the validity and reliability characteristics of the self-reflection and insight scale originally developed by Grant et al. (Soc Behav Pers 30(8):821–836, 2002). The study includes two convenience samples, comprising a total of 659 university students. The test–retest reliability study was carried out in a private university in Istanbul. The validity study was carried out in a state university that is located in Samsun, a city in the black sea region of Turkey. Both schools recruit students coming from various regions in Turkey. The results revealed a 10-item scale as a better fit compared to the original 20-item scale. The presence of both subfactors self-reflection and insight were confirmed. The Cronbach’s alpha for the whole scale was .70, .80 for the self-reflection and .65 for the insight subscales. The convergent and discriminant validity analyses revealed a negative relationship between private self-consciousness and insight scores, positive relationship between self-reflection and social anxiety plus external locus of control. There was no significant relationship between private self-consciousness and self-reflection scores. A negative relationship was found between insight and public self-consciousness, a positive relationship between mindfulness and insight scores, and finally a nonsignificant relationship between narcissism and insight scores.     

The relationship between self-consciousness and interpersonal effectiveness and a new scale to measure individual differences in self-consciousness

The purpose of this research was to explore the relationship between a dispositional tendency to become self-conscious and interpersonal effectiveness. It was hypothesized that excessive self-consciousness may be a significant component of social inadequacy and this prediction was confirmed in two experiments. In both studies, maladaptive self-consciousness was measured using a new scale and the development and validity for the test are reported. In the first study, the social skills of persons high or low in maladaptive self-consciousness were assessed using sociometric ratings made by acquaintances. Persons high in maladaptive self-consciousness were perceived by their peers as more socially inadequate. The second study was conducted in a controlled laboratory setting and involved placing persons high or low in maladaptive self-consciousness in a dyadic interaction with a randomly selected partner. Following this, both participants were asked to report their feelings and reactions during the interaction and to make behavioral ratings of their partner. Trained observers also made behavioral ratings of both interactants. It was hypothesized that maladaptive self-consciousness would be associated with ineffective social behavior, reduced sensitivity to one's partner, and a heightened self-perception of inadequacy. These predictions were confirmed and the implications of the relationship between maladaptive self-consciousness and social inadequacy are discussed.     

Testing the dimensionality of the self-consciousness scales

The self-consciousness scale of Fenigstein, Scheier, and Buss (1975) was subjected to internal and external consistency tests based on the classical test theory model. The scale was found to have five underlying dimensions: two for private self-consciousness (viz., self-reflectiveness and internal state awareness), two for public self-consciousness, and one for social anxiety. The confirmatory factor analysis procedures employed by Burnkrant and Page (1984) are shown to be fallible as indicators of unidimensionality. Theoretical implications of newly identified dimensions in the public self-consciousness subscale are discussed.     

Precursors and Underlying Processes of Adolescents' Online Self-Disclosure: Developing and Testing an “Internet-Attribute-Perception” Model

This study developed and tested an “Internet-attribute-perception” model that explains how self-disclosure develops in instant messaging (IM) interactions. Following hyperpersonal communication theory, two attributes of computer-mediated communication (i.e., reduced nonverbal cues and controllability) were assumed to be responsible for increased online self-disclosure in IM. However, our model posed that any actual effects of these attributes would depend on users' perceptions of the relevance of these attributes. Furthermore, our model posed that these perceptions would mediate the relationship between personality characteristics (i.e., pri vate and public self-consciousness, and social anxiety) and online self-disclosure. Using structural equation modeling on a sample of 1,203 Dutch adolescents, we found that adolescents' perceptions of the relevance of reduced nonverbal cues and controllability encouraged their feelings of disinhibition, which in turn increased their online self-disclosure. As expected, private and public self-consciousness and social anxiety stimulated adolescents' perceptions of the relevance of reduced nonverbal cues and controllability, but did not directly influence online self-disclosure. The study shows the vital role of users' perceptions of CMC attributes in Internet-effects research.     

Self-consciousness,self-report of aggressiveness,and aggression

Private self-consciousness consists of attending to one's thoughts, feelings, and motives. Public self-consciousness consists of attending to oneself as a social object. The effect of dispositional self-consciousness on the accuracy of self-reports was studied in research on aggression. High- and low-private self-conscious subjects rated their own aggressiveness. Several weeks later their aggressive behavior was objectively measured. The correlation between self-report of aggressiveness and aggressive behavior was significantly higher for high-than for low-private self-conscious subjects. The correlation between self-report and behavior was unaffected by public self-consciousness. The implications of these findings for self-consciousness theory and personality dispositions are discussed.     

Predictors of post-event rumination related to social anxiety

Post-event processing is the cognitive rumination that follows social events in cognitive models of social anxiety. The aim of this study was to examine factors that may predict the extent to which individuals engage in post-event processing. Anxious rumination, social anxiety, anxiety sensitivity and post-event processing related to a recent anxiety-provoking social event were assessed in a college student sample (n = 439). Social anxiety and anxious rumination, but not anxiety sensitivity, significantly predicted the extent to which the participants engaged in post-event processing related to an anxiety-provoking social event. Factors that appear to impact on the post-event period include the nature of the social situation and the ethnicity of the participant. It appears that both general rumination over anxious symptoms, and specific rumination related to social events are relevant for cognitive models of social anxiety.     

Intrinsic motivation and the effects of self-consciousness, self-awareness, and ego-involvement: An investigation of internally controlling styles

This study explored the relationships among dispositional self-consciousness, situationally induced-states of self-awareness, ego-involvement, and intrinsic motivation Cognitive evaluation theory, as applied to both the interpersonal and intrapersonal spheres, was used as the basis for making predictions about the effects of various types of self-focus Public self-consciousness, social anxiety, video surveillance and mirror manipulations of self-awareness, and induced ego-involvement were predicted and found to have negative effects on intrinsic motivation since all were hypothesized to involve controlling forms of regulation In contrast, dispositional private self-consciousness and a no-self-focus condition were both found to be unrelated to intrinsic motivation The relationship among these constructs and manipulations was discussed in the context of both Carver and Scheier's (1981) control theory and Deci and Ryan's (1985) motivation theory     

The influence of public self-consciousness and anger on aggressive driving

This study examined how anger interacted with public self-consciousness to influence aggressive driving. It was hypothesized that when people were angry, more aggressive driving behavior would occur when public self-consciousness was low than when public self-consciousness was high. To test this hypothesis the participants were required to complete measures of driving anger and public self-consciousness. Then participants gave a retrospective self-report of aggressive driving behavior. Further, participants were required to keep a log in which they recorded aggressive driving behavior. The results supported the prediction. Public self-consciousness interacted with anger to influence aggression while driving.