Contents and Forms Theory of Self-Awareness

Abstract

The authors of this article state that contemporary social psychology lacks wider, more general theory encompassing the middle range and micro psychological theories. Thus, the original contents and forms (CF) theory of self-awareness is proposed with the hope that it is going to become such a wider psychological theory. This expectation is based on the fact self-awareness is present in cognitive, emotional, and motivation processes, in dissonance and attributions, etc. CF theory of self-awareness makes a distinction between self-awareness contents and its processing form or modes. The content is divided into external and internal ones, which can be processed in any of four self-awareness forms: individual, defensive, outer, and reflective. Self-awareness operates in a dynamical way, and is functional with respect to personality and external conditions. The internal contents are associated with a greater self-focusing than the external ones. The forms of self-awareness organize, order, and integrate the self-awareness content and in doing so they influence behavior. The article discusses the relationship between the CF theory and other approaches to self-awareness; it also suggests some new research directions.