Personality correlates of public and private self consciousness

Abstract

Guilt is evoked by failures to fulfill expectations concerning role reciprocity and shame by behavior that results in loss of status. Both guilt and shame are negatively associated with psychoticism, whereas shame, but not guilt, is positively associated with neuroticism. Self consciousness consists of three dimensions, private self consciousness, public self consciousness, and social anxiety. Whereas private self consciousness seems only remotely related to guilt proneness, public self consciousness and social anxiety appear to be closely associated with the likelihood of feeling shame or embarrassment. The associations of dimensions of self consciousness with guilt and shame and with dimensions assessed by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire were ascertained. Private self consciousness was unrelated to measures of guilt and shame or to neuroticism, but (somewhat surprisingly) positively related to psychoticism. Public self consciousness and social anxiety were positively related to shame and to neuroticism. These data, like earlier results, suggest that neuroticism is not associated with individuals' concerns regarding failures to fulfill moral obligations (the ‘social contract’) but, instead, with high degrees of concern regarding loss of status.