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Correlates of Self-Consciousness and the16 Personality FactorQuestionnaireMartin F. Davies aa University of London, Goldsmiths' CollegePublished online: 02 Jul 2010.

To cite this article: Martin F. Davies (1982) Correlates of Self-Consciousness and the16 Personality Factor Questionnaire, The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary andApplied, 111:1, 123-128, DOI: 10.1080/00223980.1982.9923523

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Published as a separate and in The Journal of Psychology, 1982, 111, 123-128.

CORRELATES OF SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE 16 PERSONALITY FACTOR QUESTIONNAIRE*

University of London, Goldsmiths’ College

MARTIN F. DAVIES

SUMMARY The relationships between the three scales of the Self-Consciousness

Questionnaire and the dimensions of the 16 Personality Factor Question- naire were examined with a sample of British students ( N = 129). Correla- tions among the three scales closely resembled those previously found with American samples. The numbers of significant correlations with the 16 PF dimensions were found to differ between the three self-consciousness scales. In line with previous research, all three self-consciousness scales were positively correlated with 16 PF emotionality factors, and only social anxiety was significantly associated (negatively) with 16 PF sociability factors. Overall, private and public self-consciousness shared little variance with the 16 PF measures.

A. INTRODUCTION The concepts of self-awareness and self-consciousness have received a

good deal of attention recently from experimental social psychologists. On the basis of research by Duval and Wicklund (8), self-awareness has been induced by directing attention toward the self through devices such as mirrors, cameras, and audiences. The consequences of such self-attention include heightened awareness of salient self-elements (3, 1 l), greater real/ ideal discrepancies (13), greater individuation (12), greater responsibility for one’s behavior (9), and greater sensitivity to internal states (16), among others.

Recent research (1, 5 , 7 , 17) has suggested, however, that such a state of self-awareness is not unitary. Evidence for this derives in part from re- search on self-awareness as an individual difference variable. Originally, Fenigstein, Scheier, and Buss (10) devised a questionnaire to tap suck a

* Received in the Editorial Office on March 4, 1982, and published immediately at Provincetown, Massachusetts. Copyright by The Journal Press.

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124 JOURNAL O F PSYCHOLOGY

variable which they termed “Self-Consciousness.” They found that three major factors underlay their self-consciousness inventory. and, accordingly, their questionnaire comprises three self-consciousness (SC) scales. Private SC involves habitual attention to one’s inner thoughts, feelings, and cogni- tions, as indicated by items such as “I’m generally attentive to my inner feelings.’’ Publir SC reflects a concern for one’s social appearance and the impression one makes on others, as indicated by items such as “I’m con- cerned about the way I present myself.” Social anxiety represents a per- son’s reaction to self-examination, and reflects the discomfort felt in the presence of others as indicated by items such as “I feel anxious when I speak in front of a group.”

Although these three scales have been found to share some common variance, the intercorrelations are sufficiently low to justify three distinct constructs (10). Moreover, a number of studies have demonstrated differ- ences between the scales in their behavioral influences. For example, Scheier, Buss, and Buss (18) found that the correlation between self- reported aggressiveness and actual aggression was significantly greater for high than for low scorers on private SC, whereas there was no significant difference in such a correlation as a function of public SC. However, Scheier (15) has shown that public SC can affect the expression of attitudes and beliefs; high public SC individuals were found to moderate their views in comparison with low public SC individuals when they anticipated a future discussion of such views, whereas differences in private SC had no such influence.

In addition to investigating behavioral implications of self-consciousness, research has also been carried out to validate the self-consciousness con- structs with reference to other individual difference variables. Thus, Carver and Glass (4) and Turner, Scheier, Carver, and Ickes (19) have shown that the SC scales share little variance with variables such as social desirability, self-monitoring, and impulsivity.

The present research sought to extend the construct and discriminant validity of the SC scales by examining their relation to personality dimen- sions derived from a well-established and widely-used inventory, the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire ( 16 PF).

B. METHOD Ss were 54 male and 7 5 female students of the University of London

enrolled in a variety of different courses. Their ages ranged from 18 to 30

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MARTIN F. DAVIES 125

with a mean of 21.3 years. Ss were paid for their participation in a testing-session which involved the administration of the 16 PF Form A (6) and the Self-Consciousness Questionnaire' (10).

c . RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Since previous research using the Self-Consciousness Questionnaire has

employed only American students, the means and SDs for the present sample of British students are shown in Table 1 along with those of the American sample reported by Fenigstein et al. (10). Comparison of these two samples suggests that British male students are less publicly self- conscious than American male students (t = 3.20, df = 231, p < .01) and that British female students are less privately self-conscious than American female students (t = 3.04, df = 326, p < .01).

The correlations among the three SC scales are similar to those of previous findings (4, 10, 19). There is a moderate positive correlation between private and public SC (Y = .29, p < .001), a moderate positive correlation between public SC and social anxiety (r = .29, p < .001), and no correlation between private SC and social anxiety (Y = .02). However, in none of these comparisons does the shared variance exceed lo%, confirming the distinctiveness of the three SC scales.

Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were computed between the SC scales and the 16 PF (Table 2). Correlations for males and females are not shown separately since there were few substantive differences.

TABLE 1 MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS OF THE THREE SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS SCALES

Males Females

Present Fenigstein Scale sample el al.

Private M 25.2 25.9 SD 6.2 5.0

M 16.8 18.9 SD 4.9 4.0

M 12.6 12.5 SD 5.4 4.1

Public

Social anxiety

Present Fenigstein sample et al.

24.4 26.6 6.7 5.1

18.5 19.3 4.5 4.0

12.7 12.8 5.4 4.5

I Thanks are due to Mike Startup for administering and scoring questionnaires.

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TABLE 2 16 PF CORRELATES O F THE THREE SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS SCALES

Factor

A B C E F G H I L M N 0 Q1

Qz Q 0 4

16 PF dimensions

Low score High score

Reserved Outgoing Dull Bright Affected by feelings Emotionally stable Humble Assertive Sober Happy-go-lucky Expedient Conscientious Shy Venturesome Toughminded Tenderminded Trusting Suspicious Practical Imaginative Forthright Shrewd Placid Apprehensive Conservative Experimenting Group-dependen t Self-sufficient Undisciplined self-conflict Controlled Relaxed Tense

Self-consciousness scales

Private Public Social anxiety

- 08 .10 -.03 -. 16 -.29** -.24*

- 1 7 -.17 -.01 - . I 3

.09

.03

.o 1 16

- 13 . 15 .21 .08

- . 1 1 .17

.18

.26* -_ 12

.O1

.05 -. 19 -.01

- . lo -.06

.01

.29**

.29**

- . 2 5 * -.09 -.24* -..38**

4 0

z > r

5

- .- 7 9 * * 0 .3 .05 v -.66**

-.01 4 - . 25*

. 00

.02 r

.35** -.02 4

.04

.30**

v1

8 0 n

-.08

* p < .01. ** p < .001.

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MARTIN F. DAVIES 127

The three SC scales differ in the number of significant (<.01) correlations with the 16 PF dimensions: private SC correlates significantly with only one, public SC correlates significantly with four, and social anxiety corre- lates significantly with eight dimensions. Also, private and public SC in particular share little common variance (<lo%) with the 16 PF dimen- sions.

With reference to specific dimensions, all three SC scales correlate sig- nificantly with emotionality (Factor C). This replicates previous findings of Turner et al. (19), who employed a measure of emotionality (2) different from that in the 16 PF. It might be thought that the basis of these three correlations is the same. However, from an analysis of correlations between the SC scales and other 16 PF dimensions, this appears not to be the case. There are significant correlations of public SC and social anxiety with Factor Q4 (Tension), while such a correlation for private SC is much smaller. Similarly, both public SC and social anxiety, but not private SC, correlate significantly with Factor 0 (PlacidApprehensive). Previous re- search (16) has shown that individuals high on private SC are more attentive to their internal states and feelings than those low on private SC. Thus, the significant correlation of Factor C with private SC could be due to this attentional aspect, whereas the significant correlation of Factor C with public SC and social anxiety is more likely due to the concern and worry associated with these scales.

Those factors related to sociability such as Factor A (ReservedOutgoing) and Factor H (Shy/Venturesome) show no significant relation to either private or public SC, but are significantly related to social anxiety. This pattern of results confirms previous findings (4, 14, 19). Such a pattern is also replicated for Factors E (Humble/Assertive) and F (SobedHappy-go- lucky) where there are significant negative correlations with social anxiety but nonsignificant correlations with private and public SC.

Two other 16 PF dimensions appear relevant to private and public SC: Factor G (ExpedientKonscientious) and Factor Q (Undisciplined self- conflictlcontrolled). High scorers on Factor G tend to be exacting in character, dominated by sense of duty, persevering, responsible, and con- scientious. These superego characteristics would seem to be more relevant to private SC than to public SC, yet the findings suggest otherwise. By contrast, high scorers on Factor Q tend to be controlled but in a social sense-they tend to be socially aware and careful, and evidence self-respect and regard for social reputations. This would appear relevant to public SC, but, as can be seen from Table 2 , the correlation is thoroughly nonsig-

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128 JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY

nificant. However, in view of the less than perfect equivalence between private 'us. public standards of behavior and the definitions of Factors G and Q, these findings need to be interpreted with some caution.

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Department of Psychology Goldsmiths' College New Cross London SE14 6NW England

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