The Social Awareness Inventory (SAI), which assesses individual differences in eight social-perceptual styles, is introduced and applied in three studies. The model is derived by crossing the three binary dimensions of target (self or other), perspective (own or other's), and content (overt appearance or covert experience). Studies 1 and 2 describe the development of the SAI and show that its subscales are meaningfully associated with related constructs such as public and private self-consciousness, empathy, social anxiety, and narcissism. Studies 2 and 3 explore the factor structure of the SAI, showing that people high on a self-divided factor regulate themselves according to environmental controls, list more self presentational strivings, and are higher on neuroticism and depression. In contrast, people high on a self-grounded factor tend to be autonomy oriented. The SAI appears to provide an integrative conceptual and empirical framework for considering many personality and motivational constructs.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alston, W. (1970). Toward a logical geography of personality: Traits and deeper-lying personality characteristics. In H. D. Kiefer & M. K. Munitz (Eds.), Mind, science, and history (pp. 70-105). Albany: State University of New York Press.
2.
Bernstein, I. H. , Teng, G., & Garbin, C. P. (1986). A confirmatory factoring of the self-consciousness scale. Multivariate Behavioral Re-search, 1, 459-475.
3.
Briggs, S. R. , & Cheek, J. M. (1988). On the nature of self-monitoring: Problems with assessment, problems with validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 663-678.
4.
Britt, T. W. (1992). The Self-Consciousness Scale: On the stability of the three-factor structure. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18, 748-755.
5.
Broughton, J. (1981). The divided self in adolescence. Human Development, 24, 13-32.
6.
Burnkrant, R. E. , & Page, T. J. (1984). A modification of the Fenigstein, Scheier, and Buss Self-Consciousness Scales. Journal of Personality Assessment, 48, 629-637.
7.
Buss, D. M. , & Chiodo, L. M. (1991). Narcissistic acts in everyday life. Journal of Personality, 59, 180-214.
8.
Cantor, N. , & Kihlstrom, J. F. (1987). Personality and social intelligence. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
9.
Carver, C. S. (1989). How should multifaceted personality constructs be tested? Issues illustrated by self-monitoring, attributional style, and hardiness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 577-585.
10.
Carver, C. S. , & Scheier, M. F. (1981). Attention and self-regulation: A control-theory approach to human behavior. New York: Springer-Verlag.
11.
Carver, C. S. , & Scheier, M. F. (1982). Self-awareness and the self-regulation of behavior. In G. Underwood (Ed.), Aspects of consciousness (pp. 235-266) New York: Academic Press.
12.
Carver, C. S. , & Scheier, M. F. (1987). The blind men and the elephant: Selective examination of the public-private literature gives rise to a faulty perception. Journal of Personality, 55, 525-541.
13.
Carver, C. S. , & Scheier, M. F. (1990). Origins and function of positive and negative affect: A control-process view. Psychological Review, 97, 19-35.
14.
Cohen, J. , & Cohen, P. (1983). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
15.
Davis, M. H. (1980). A multidimensional approach to individual differences in empathy. JSAS: Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 10, 85.
16.
Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 113-126.
17.
Deci, E. L. , & Ryan, R. M. (1985a). The General Causality Orientations Scale: Self-determination in personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 19, 109-134.
18.
Deci, E. L. , & Ryan, R. M. (1985b). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum.
19.
Deci, E. L. , & Ryan, R. M. (1991). A -motivational approach to self: Integration in personality. In R. Dienstbier (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (pp. 237-288) Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
20.
Dillard, J. P. , & Hunter, J. E. (1989). On the use and interpretation of the Emotional Empathy scale, the Self-Consciousness Scales, and the Self-monitoring scale. Communication Research, 16, 104-129.
21.
Duvall, R. W. , & Wicklund, S. (1972). A theory of effective self-awareness. New York: Academic Press.
22.
Emmons, R. A. (1986). Personal strivings: An approach to subjective well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1058-1068.
23.
Emmons, R. A. (1987). Narcissism: Theory and measurement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 11-17.
24.
Emmons, R. A. (1989a). The personal striving approach to personality. In L. A. Pervin (Ed.), Goal concepts in personality and social psychology (pp. 87-126). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
25.
Emmons, R. A. (1989b). Exploring the relations between motives and traits: The case of narcissism. In A. Buss & N. Cantor (Eds.), Personality psychology: Recent trends and emerging directions (pp. 32-44). New York: Springer-Verlag.
26.
Emmons, R. A. (n.d.). Striving coding manual Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Davis.
27.
Eysenck, H. J. , & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1975). Manual for the Eysenck Person-ality Questionnaire. London: Hoder & Stoughton.
28.
Fenigstein, A. (1987). On the nature of public and private self-consciousness. Journal of Personality, 55, 543-553.
29.
Fenigstein, A. , Scheier, M. F., & Buss, A. H. (1975). Public and private self-consciousness: Assessment and theory. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 43, 522-527.
30.
Figurski, T. J. (1987). Self-awareness and other-awareness: The use of perspective in everyday life. In KI Yardley & T. Honess (Eds.), Self and identity: Psychosocial perspectives (pp. 197-210). New York: John Wiley.
31.
Franzoi, S. L. , Davis, M. H., & Markweise, B. (1990). A motivational explanation for the existence of private self-consciousness. Journal of Personality, 58, 641-659.
32.
Funder, D. C. , & Harris, M. J. (1986). On the several facets of personality assessment: The case of social acuity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 528-550.
33.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City, NY: Doubleday-Anchor.
34.
Gollwitzer, P. , & Wicklund, R. (1987). Fusing apples and oranges: A rejoinder to Carver and Scheier and to Fenigstein. Journal of Personality, 55, 555-561.
35.
Hamilton, D. (1968). Personality attributes associated with extreme response style. Psychological Bulletin, 69, 192-203.
36.
Hull, J. G. , Lehn, D. A., & Tedlie, J. C. (1991). A general approach to testing multifaceted constructs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 932-945.
37.
Hyland, M. E. (1988). Motivational control theory: An integrative framework. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 642-651.
38.
Ingram, R. E. (1990). Self-focused attention in clinical disorders: Re-view and a conceptual model. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 156-176.
39.
Johnson, J. T. (1987). The heart on the sleeve and the secret self: Estimation of hidden emotion in self and acquaintances. Journal of Personality, 55, 563-582.
40.
Johnson, J. T. , Struthers, N. J., & Bradlee, P. (1988). Social knowledge and the "secret self': The mediating effect of data base size on judgments of emotionality in the self and others. Social Cognition, 6, 319-344.
41.
Kasser, T. , & Ryan, R. M. (1996). Further examining the American dream: Differential correlates of intrinsic and extrinsic goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 281-288.
42.
Koestner, R. , Bernieri, F., & Zuckerman, M. (1992). Self-regulation and consistency between attitudes, traits, and behaviors. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1, 52-59.
43.
Laing, R. D. (1969). The divided selfNew York: Pantheon.
44.
Lamphere, R. A. , & Leary, M. R. (1990). Private and public self-processes: A return to James's constituents of the self. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 16, 717-725.
45.
Leary, M. R. , Kowalski, R. M., & Campbell, C. D. (1988). Self-presentational concerns and social anxiety: The role of generalized impression expectancies. Journal of Research in Personality, 22, 308-321.
46.
Long, E. C. J. , & Andrews, D. W. (1990). Perspective-taking as a predictor of marital adjustment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 126-131.
47.
McAdams, D. P. (1985). Power, intimacy, and the life story: Personological inquiries into identity. Homewood, IL: Dorsey.
48.
Mehrabian, A. , & Epstein, N. (1972). A measure of emotional empathy. Journal of Personality, 40, 525-543.
49.
Miller, A. (1981). Drama of the gifted child. New York: Basic Books.
50.
Mithaug, D. E. (1993). Self-regulation theory: How optimal adjustment maximizes gain. London: Praeger.
51.
Mittal, B. , & Balasubramanian, S. K. (1987). Testing the dimensionality of the Self-Consciousness Scales. Journal of Personality Assessment, 1, 53-68.
52.
Piliavin, J. A. , & Charng, H. (1988). What is the factorial structure of the Private and Public Self-Consciousness Scales?Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 14, 587-595.
53.
Plant, R. W. , & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and the effects of self-consciousness, self-awareness, and ego-involvement: An investigation of internally controlling styles. Journal of Personality, 53, 435-449.
54.
Prentice, D. A. (1990). Familiarity differences in self- and other representations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 369-383.
55.
Pyszczynski, T. , & Greenberg, J. (1987). Self-regulatory perseveration and the depressive self-focusing style: A self-awareness theory of the development and maintenance of depression. Psychological Bulletin, 102, 122-138.
56.
Pyszczynski, T. , Hamilton, J. C., & Herring, F. H. (1989). Depression, self-focused attention, and the negative memory bias. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 351-357.
57.
Radloff, L. (1977). The CES-D Scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measure-ment, 11, 45-49.
58.
Raskin, T. , & Terry, H. (1988). A principal-components analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and further evidence of its construct validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 890-902.
59.
Read, S. J. , & Miller, L. C. (1989). Interpersonalism: Toward a goal-based theory of persons in relationships. In L. A. Pervin (Ed.), Goal concepts in personality and social psychology (pp. 413-472) Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
60.
Riggio, R. E. , Tucker, J., & Coffaro, D. (1989). Social skills and empathy. Personality and Individual Differences, 10, 93-99.
61.
Rogers, C. (1980). A way of being. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
62.
Ryan, R. M. , (1995). Psychological needs and the facilitation of integrative processes. Journal of Personality, 63, 397-427.
63.
Ryan, K. M. , Sheldon, K. M., Kasser, T., & Deci, E. L. (1996). All goals were not created equal: The relation of goal content and regulatory styles to mental health. In J. A. Bargh & P. M. Gollwitzer (Eds.), The psychology of action: Linking motivation and cognition to behavior. New York: Guilford.
64.
Sheldon, K. M. , & Johnson, J. T. (1993). Forms of social awareness: Their frequency and correlates. Personality and Social Psychology,Bulletin, 19, 320-330.
65.
Strauss, J. , & Ryan, R. M. (1987). Autonomy disturbances in subtypes of anorexia nervosa. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 96, 254-258.
66.
Wegner, D. M. , & Guiliano, T. (1982). The forms of social awareness. In W. Ickes & E. Knowles (Eds.), Personality, roles, and social behavior (pp. 165-198). New York: Springer-Verlag.
67.
Wegner, D. M. , & Guiliano, T. (1983). Social awareness in story comprehension. Social Cognition, 2, 1-17.
68.
Wood, J. , Saltzberg, J., Neale, J., Stone, A., & Rachmiel, T. (1990). Self-focused attention, coping responses, and distressed mood in everyday life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 1027-1036.
69.
Zuckerman, M. , Gioioso, C., & Tellini, S. (1988). Control orientation, self-monitoring, and preference for image vs. quality approach to advertising. Journal of Research in Personality, 22, 89-100.
