Self-Consciousness and Cognitive Prototypes of the Ideal Self

The current research included two studies that assessed private as well as public self-consciousness and tested recognition memory of trait adjectives which participants had rated according to either private/ideal (Study 1) or public/ideal (Study 2) self-descriptiveness. Each study produced a pattern of false alarms (FA) that corresponded to predictions: Study 1 revealed that participants high in private selfconsciousness committed more FA to distractors that described the private/ideal self most, but fewer FA to distractors that described the private/ideal self least, than did participants low in private self-consciousness, whereas Study 2 revealed that participants high in public self-consciousness committed more FA to distractors that described the public/ideal self most, but fewer to distractors that described the public/ideal self least, than did participants low in public self-consciousness. Considered jointly, the results supported the hypotheses. First, individuals mentally represent both private and public facets of the ideal self according to cognitive prototypes. Second, private (but not public) self-consciousness predicts the extent to which individuals have developed the prototype that represents the private facet of the ideal self, whereas public (but not private) self-consciousness predicts the extent to which individuals have developed the prototype that represents the public facet.  1997 Academic Press