Self-focused attention and personality validation

Previous research has shown that self-focused attention increases resistance to incorrect experimental suggestion about internal bodily states. The generality of this finding was tested in the present experiment for judgements which require more extensive external validation. It was found that false personality feedback was judged as significantly less accurate than genuine feedback under mirror selffocused conditions but not in the absence of a mirror. Explanations in terms of facial feedback, task involvement, social desirability, and self-serving reactions were discussed but these did not adequately account for the data. The results extend previous findings by showing that even where subjects do not have direct access to internal cues, private self-awareness enhances the validity of self-perceptions.