Public Self-Consciousness

What it measures

Seven Likert-type statements measure the degree to which a person expresses an awareness of self as a social object with an effect on others. Items address concerns about style, self-presentation, physical appearance, impression management, mirror-checking behaviour, concern about others' opinions, and general appearance awareness. The scale is one of three subscales from the original Self-Consciousness Scale, the others being private self-consciousness and social anxiety.

Response format

7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree)

Scale items

• I'm concerned about my style of doing things.
• I'm concerned about the way I present myself.
• I'm self-conscious about the way I look.
• I usually worry about making a good impression.
• One of the last things I do before leaving my house is look in the mirror.
• I'm concerned about what other people think of me.
• I'm usually aware of my appearance.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Original development used a five-point response scale. Bearden and Rose (1990) adapted the scale to a seven-point disagree/agree format and reported alphas of .83, .74, and .79 across three studies. Dabholkar and Bagozzi (2002) reported alpha of .75 and supported convergent and discriminant validity via CFA after dropping two items. The seven-item version is most commonly used in marketing research.

Citation

Feningstein, A., Scheier, M. F., & Buss, A. H. (1975). Public and private self-consciousness: Assessment and theory. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 43(4), 522–527.

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