An experience we can find to be common amongst ourselves is our public self consciousness. In an attempt to overcome this type of self perception we tend to follow a series of social norms in an effort to “fit in”. Public self consciousness is a focus of attention. Some areas of public self consciousness could be associated with social anxiety where one may evaluate themselves and become apprehensive. Individuals are constantly monitoring themselves to try to become *what they perceive* to be a better version of themselves. Buss, Feingstein & Scheier (1975) developed the Self-Consciousness Scale (SCS). This scale measures private and public self consciousness as well as social anxiety. Public self consciousness can be interpreted as an individual self-monitoring themselves, controlling their expressive behavior in social settings.
Various studies have been conducted in an attempt to better understand public self consciousness. Lee & Workman (2011) in their research titled, “Vanity and Public Self-consciousness: a Comparison of Fashion Consumer Groups and Gender” studied the complex overview of fashion groups, gender, and public self-consciousness. The purpose of this study was to differentiate public self-consciousness and vanity through genders and people associated with the fashion industry. They stated that vanity was associated with the following four factors: “concern for physical appearance, a positive (perhaps inflated) view of physical appearance, concern for achievement and a positive (perhaps inflated) view of achievement”. It was revealed that women scored higher in the components of physical and achievement concern, proving to be more self conscious when compared to men. Meanwhile, fashion agents in comparison to fashion followers scored higher on physical concern and view. The outcome of this study reveals that individuals associated in the fashion industry versus those who do not view vanity and public self-consciousness differently. Though, a vital finding from this study is the relationship between public self consciousness and appearance. Additionally, vanity influences what women, men, fashion agents, and fashion agents purchase in regards to clothing.
Though public self consciousness has been widely studied across different researches, social norms has also had a large influence in previous studies. Social norms vary across different countries and cultures, playing an important role within the aspects of our lives. Though what can be most identified is how frequently we conform to social norms even if they may not be aligned with our private selves. Additionally, individuals follow social norms differently, the Social-Norm Espousal Scale (SNES) measures the individual-difference in an attempt to measure these tendencies and determine what social norms an individual deems as most important and valuable. It is possible that there is a deeper motive in following and conforming to social norms. “Bodies Obliged and Unbound: Differentiated Response Tendencies for Injunctive and Descriptive Social Norms” composed by Cialdine, Jacobson & Mortensen (2011) state that different psychological response tendencies are notable when we conform to social norms including: descriptive or injunctive reasons. Specifically, injunctive reasons are followed when individuals want social approval in an attempt to stray away from social disapproval and descriptive reasons are due to perceived prevalence. It is clear that social norms can be taken into consideration in making simple decisions everyday. More frequently seen, social norms are followed due to fear of being outcast and being self conscious of oneself.
Individuals who tend to be self-conscious have a lot of concern with fitting into society and not standing out in a crowd. These individuals are mindful of their appearance and how they present themselves to others. There are an abundant amount of interpretations of public self-consciousness but the one that stands out the most to me would be following social norms and caring about how others perceive us. Wiekens and Stapel (2008) in their research study, “The Mirror and I: When Private Opinions are in Conflict with Public Norms” states that psychologists define social norms as an opinion that most individuals “yield” to in order to avoid differences. When a private opinion is in conflict with social norms, people’s self aspects of salience are analyzed. Which then leads to two questions, “Are you just aware of your private thoughts, or are you also sensitive to your public self-aspects?” (Stapel & Wiekens, 2008). Wiekens and Stapel examines how a mirror can influence aspects of one self and whether or not looking at ourselves can alter our behaviour: whether it increases private self-aspects or public self-aspects. They reference a study conducted by Gibbons and Wright in 1983 where they discovered that individuals who were in front of the mirror changed their personal opinion towards public opinion. The test exhibited how many individuals conform to societal norms but they also discovered that although individuals did shift their opinion towards public opinion their personal opinion did not completely go away. This research suggests a relationship with the dependent variable, public self consciousness, by how a lot of people sway their personal opinion towards public opinion because they are self-conscious about thinking differently than other people. Stapel & Wiekens (2008) research discusses how most people are concerned with how their opinions and mannerisms are interpreted by others. This tends to be something that is regularly seen in society as we do not want to stand out too much in a crowd and would rather be similar to others in order to avoid humiliation, attention, and being viewed as different. Social norms are relevant as this is how our society has been built, where most people conform to society’s views that influence how we display ourselves as well as being cautious of how we choose to present ourselves through clothing, mannerisms, and overall appearance. In an attempt to avoid a negative perception by someone else, we *try to* resolve this “problem” by agreeing and conforming with the majority.
In order to improve this subject, I focused my study on the relationship between public self consciousness and social norms. Participants in this study answered personal questions about themselves that they may have never put much consideration into previously. Previous research has examined the bivariate relationship between social norms and public self consciousness. However, this study focuses on the possible multivariate relationship of social norms, public self consciousness and appearance. Therefore, my study attempts to determine more about where public self consciousness comes from. Through examining social norms and appearance, a better understanding of an individual’s mind is learned, broadening our knowledge of the motives we take and the consideration that is put into everything we do in our lives. For example, there will always be consideration put into what we decide to do, even simple tasks. The root of this consideration is derived from fear of consequences and opinions that can make someone feel invalidated. My personal hypothesis is that public self conscious individuals are more likely to follow social norms.
