The variable effects of self-awareness may be a result of multiple states of awareness being condensed under the umbrella term, "self-awareness". We posit that the cognitive and behavioral effects of self-awareness are largely dependent on another variable, level of abstraction, which modulates self-awareness on a continuum between conceptual and perceptual processing. We support this claim with evidence suggesting that conceptual self-awareness works to override one's perceptual self-awareness in the perception of one's own face, and that this process is mediated by perspective-taking. When asked to differentiate their own mirrored and unmirrored faces from other faces, participants who were asked to think about themselves as abstract social entities showed faster recognition of their own unmirrored faces, compared to participants who were asked to focus on more perceptual aspects of themselves. We also present evidence suggesting a protective effect of conceptual self-awareness in skilled motor performance, using a penny golf task

Last modified

• 06/25/2018

Creator

• Eric Lee Smith

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/N26H6T

Subject

• Pscyhology

Keyword

• self abstraction
• face recognition
• perspective taking
• self awareness
• performance

Date created

• 2007-05-11

Resource type

• Dissertation

Rights statement

• In Copyright