Effects of objective self awareness on reaction times for self-descriptive trait terms
The directing of attention toward internal aspects of the self was studied within the framework of Duval and Wicklund's (1972) theory of objective self-awareness. According to the theory, individuals who become aware of a discrepancy between their actual behaviour and ideal standards of behavio...
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| Format: | Others |
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2006
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| Online Access: | http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/9022/1/MR20687.pdf Buchsbaum, Roxana <http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/view/creators/Buchsbaum=3ARoxana=3A=3A.html> (2006) Effects of objective self awareness on reaction times for self-descriptive trait terms. Masters thesis, Concordia University. |
| Summary: | The directing of attention toward internal aspects of the self was studied within the framework of Duval and Wicklund's (1972) theory of objective self-awareness. According to the theory, individuals who become aware of a discrepancy between their actual behaviour and ideal standards of behaviour are motivated to change their behaviours in order to reduce the discrepancy. Whereas objective self-awareness has been induced in participants by the presence of a mirror, no specific manipulations with regard to trait-specific judgments while being self-aware have been employed in prior-research. In the current study, participants were presented with trait terms either while looking at their own image in a mirror or looking at a blank screen. Participants were expected to make self-descriptive judgments faster when primed with a matching trait term and in a state of objective self-awareness than when they were not self-focused. Contrary to expectations, priming facilitated response times for self-descriptive judgments in the absence of a mirror, when participants were not self-focused. This was only true for women. Possible explanations for this pattern of results are discussed within the framework of objective self-awareness theory |
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