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

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) (Fenigstein, Scheier and Buss, 1975) consists of two factors (Burnkrant and Page, 1984; Mittal and Balasubramanian, 1987; Piliavin and Charng, 1988). A principal-components analysis confirmed the presence of these factors in a new sample of 149 undergraduates (83 females, 66 males), and identified the relevant items. Scores on these factors, named internal state awareness and self-reflectiveness, exhibited a markedly different 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-reflectiveness is largely negative in both self- and peer descriptions of personality. These results suggest that, while a high level of self-reflectiveness may entail a psychologically maladaptive style of private self-consciousness, a high level of internal state awareness may be one manifestation of psychological health.