Eichstaedt and SilviaIMPLICIT ASSESSMENT OF SELF-FOCUS NOTICING THE SELF: IMPLICIT ASSESSMENT OF SELF-FOCUSED ATTENTION USING WORD RECOGNITION LATENCIES

Self-focused attention is difficult to measure. Two studies developed an im-plicit measure of self-focus based on word recognition latencies. Self-focused attention activates self-content, so self-focused people should recognize self-relevant words more quickly. Study 1 measured individual-differences in self-focused attention. People scoring high in private self-consciousness rec-ognized self-relevant words more quickly. Study 2 manipulated objective self-awareness with a writing task. People who wrote about distinctive self-as-pects (high self-awareness) recognized self-relevant words more quickly com-pared to people who wrote about a neutral topic (low self-awareness) and people who did no writing (control). The discussion considers implications for future research on self-focused attention. Objective self-awareness theory explores the consequences of fo-cusing attention internally on the self or externally on events in th