Abstract
An experiment was conducted to examine whether self-awareness decreased the degree to which one made herself responsible for negative outcomes as a causal agent or not.
Much past research had found the opposite effects of self-awareness on the attribution of responsibility to the self. This time, however, it was found that self-attributions for hypothetical outcomes were less for those subjects in high private self-awareness conditions than in low conditions. This was clearer with dispositional private self-consciousness.
When subjects were low in private selfconsciousness, self-attributions were greater for those who were high in public self-consciousness than those low in it.
It is proposed in the discussion that “focus of attention on the self”, the definition of selfawareness, had better be modified.
