Self-Awareness and Feeling Transparent: Failing to Suppress One's Self

Abstract

Three studies examined the relationship between self-awareness and perceptions of "transparency," that is, individuals' beliefs about the degree to which their personal qualities can be accurately discerned from their behavior. Study 1 explored the relation of dispositional self-consciousness to feelings of transparency. Study 2 examined the effects of state self-awareness on feelings of transparency. Study 3 investigated individuals' perceptions of transparency in an evaluative context that induced self-awareness and in a relatively nonevaluative context. Across all three studies, increased self-awareness was associated with increased feelings of transparency. Observer data obtained in Study 2 confirmed that self-awareness impairs perspective-taking on the self: Individuals were most likely to overestimate their transparency to an observer under conditions fostering self-focused attention.