Self-Consciousness, Public and Private Self-Awareness, and Memory in a Social Setting

Abstract

Abstract The effects of public self-awareness induced in an ordinary introduction situation on recall of people's names and characteristics were examined in two studies. Public self-awareness was varied by having 4 women introduce themselves to a woman subject either face to face or through a one-way mirror so that the subject could not be seen by the other women. Trait self-consciousness and private self-awareness (mirror-induced) were also examined in the first study, and public self-awareness (audience-induced) was investigated in the second experiment. High public self-awareness hindered name recall in Study 1, and the combination of audience-induced and introduction-induced public self-awareness did so in Study 2. Self-focus induced by others' scrutiny seems to have interfered with the processing of incoming verbal information.