Consciousness of body: Private and public.

Abstract

A self-report instrument yielded two separate factors: private body consciousness (awareness of internal sensations) and public body consciousness (awareness of observable aspects of body). For each factor, norms, test-retest reliability data, and correlations with other personality measures are presented. An experiment on reaction to ingestion of caffeine revealed that only subjects high in private body consciousness or high in both private body consciousness and private selfconsciousness were stimulated by caffeine; individual differences in public body consciousness and in private self-consciousness alone had no impact. These findings have implications for biofeedback, false physiological feedback, and excitation transfer. When we attend to ourselves, what do we observe? Though there may be various answers to this question, one is to classify the diverse components of the self into private and public aspects. The private aspects can be observed only by the experiencing person: thoughts, images, memories, motives, and feelings—all concerning oneself. The public aspects can be observed by anyone else: appearance, manners, and style of behavior. People differ considerably in the extent to which they attend to the private aspects of themselves, and there are marked individual differences in consciousness of the public or social aspects of oneself. These two dispositions, private and public self-consciousness, are measured by the Self-Consciousness Inventory (Fenigstein, Scheier, & Buss, 1975). Among the highest loading items on the Private Self-Consciousness Scale are, I reflect about myself a lot, I'm generally attentive to my inner feelings, and I'm alert to changes in my mood. Among the highest loading items on the Public Self-Conscious