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 method's. 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 rite relevant items. Scores on these factors, named internal state awareness and self-reflectiveness, exhibited a markedly different pattern of personality con elates with both self- and peel descriptions of personality and scores on three of the Big-Five NEO-PT 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 peel 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. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.