Self-Concept Differences as a Function of Private Self-Consciousness and Social Anxiety

The present study investigated the self-concepts of 80 individuals who were either high or low in private self-consciousness and either high or medium to low in social anxiety. Subjects responded to self-report questionnaires and, in addition, their friends evaluated them. When subjects\u27 self-ratings were compared with their friends\u27 ratings of them, as predicted, high private self-conscious persons evaluated themselves more in line with their friends\u27 evaluations of them than did the low private self-conscious individuals; subjects who were low in both private self-consciousness and social anxiety tended to evaluate themselves more favorably, while low private self-conscious, high socially anxious subjects evaluated themselves more unfavorably. Based on these interaction effects and on the main effects of private self-consciousness and social anxiety, it appears that low private self-conscious individuals\u27 inattention to private thoughts and feelings helps them to maintain self-concepts that are discrepant with what significant others think of them. The implications of these findings were discussed in terms of current theory in self-awareness and social anxiet