The Psychology of Self-Awareness: Examining its Role in Public Life

This essay delves into the psychological concept of self-awareness, examining its intricate relationship with public perception. It reviews scholarly works that explore how individuals' awareness of themselves is influenced by the views and opinions of others. The essay analyzes research methodologies, strengths, and weaknesses of various studies, including those focusing on the impact of being watched, societal pressures on voting behavior, and even the self-awareness of individuals engaging in antisocial behavior. The literature review covers diverse perspectives, highlighting the complex interplay between self-perception and external influences, and provides critical insights into the multifaceted nature of self-awareness within a social context. Desklib provides access to similar essays and study resources for students.

Running head: SELF AWARENESS
Self Awareness
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SELF AWARENESS
Introduction
In the discipline of psychology, the concept of self has to do with the perceptions which
are subjective and personally cherished about oneself by an individual. The construct of the self
in the branch of enquiry essentially deals with the evaluative exercise of the faculties that one is
endowed with, which find expression in one’s outward behaviour, in the unique qualities and
specialities of an individual. Based on these faculties, does an individual amasses the capability
to develop a perception or a view about oneself. That view might, or might not coincide with the
views that other individuals nurture in their minds about a particular individual, based on their
subjective intuition, value-perceptions and ideological predispositions. Thus it becomes quite
clear that the conceptual understanding of the self has to do with self-awareness in the field of
psychology. The very basis of the existence and the significance of the self lies in being aware of
the self. Having provided a brief overview of what the entity of self and the faculty of self-
awareness accounts for, the discussion shall now be devoted to providing a literature review. The
attempt herein shall be to provide an overview of the scholarly works and accordingly analyze
them.
Literature review
Pfattheicher & Keller (2015), as the name of the article suggests had tried to relate the
concept of self-awareness with that of the perception of the public about an individual. They
have tried to reconcile the two concepts, self-awareness, and the perception about the self in the
minds of the others. Those two concepts are in common parlance viewed as being placed in
contrast to each other. However, Pfattheicher & Keller (2015) makes a departure from the
traditional outlook to prove that the awareness about what the self is all about can also be
affected by the view of the others. Making use of both the qualitative and the quantitative

2SELF AWARENESS
methodology of research, they try to present their views on the basis of analyzing the existing
literature with a deductive approach, and at the same time supplementing it with researches
conducted. The conclusion that they reach is that the sense of being watched by the public does
alter the way one views oneself. The strength of the research lies in the fact that the scholars
have conducted research independently to affirm the already existing notion. The weakness of
the research lies in the fact that the findings are nothing novel or unique.
Oda, Kato & Hiraishi (2015) tries to provide an insight into the connection between self-
awareness and its manifestation in voting behaviour. The argument is very much similar to what
has already been discussed in the previous section, dealing with the issue of public opinion
shaping ones conduct in the public sphere. The previous argument dealt with gaze, and in this
particular article, Oda, Kato & Hiraishi (2015) talks about the factor of societal pressure and the
socially prevalent views playing an important role in defining how an individual shall channelize
self-awareness into action. The conclusion which they have reached proves that self-awareness is
not autonomous and cannot be detached from the larger social setting in which the individual is
placed. With regard to the methodological aspect, the qualitative method had been used for
reaching the conclusion. The scholars had conducted a survey research in arriving at the
inferences. The strength of the research lies in the fact that it provides an insight into how
collective forces can condition self-awareness. The weakness of the research lies in the fact that
it is had not tried to view voting behaviour from the angle that self-awareness could also
influence public behaviour. A politician who lacks self-awareness cannot win over the public to
influence their thought process. Hence, the lack of initiative to view the issue of affecting self-
awareness from a different angle renders the research one sided and biased.

3SELF AWARENESS
Cai et al., (2015) in their article take a different approach altogether in establishing the
relationship between self-awareness and public reaction. They provide the example of thieves to
explain the fact that thieves do not fear, nor do they care about the public outrage that is directed
against them. They have developed the faculty of carrying out their actions regardless of what
the general public thinks about them. With regard to the methodological aspect of the research, it
had been quantitative, based on survey research. The strength of the research lies in the fact that
it had made antisocial behaviour the focus of its study which most scholars do not attempt. The
weakness of the research lies in the fact that the very fact thieves lead a life of seclusion and no
amount of self-awareness as a thief can gain one acceptance in society, shows that public opinion
does matter in the shaping of public awareness.

4SELF AWARENESS
References
Cai, W., Huang, X., Wu, S., & Kou, Y. (2015). Dishonest behavior is not affected by an image of
watching eyes. Evolution and Human Behavior, 36(2), 110-116.
Oda, R., Kato, Y., & Hiraishi, K. (2015). The watching-eye effect on prosocial lying.
Evolutionary Psychology, 13(3), 1474704915594959.
Pfattheicher, S., & Keller, J. (2015). The watching eyes phenomenon: The role of a sense of
being seen and public self‐awareness. European Journal of Social Psychology, 45(5),
560-566.