Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of the observer on causal attribution and task performance of students. The self-consciousness scale (SCS) was administered to 162 undergraduates and seventy-six students were selected as subjects according to their public SCS score (38 from the high-score group and 38 from the low-score group). The 2×2 factorial design (high and low public self-consciousness scores by observed and unobserved situations) was used. The reactions of the students were scored by 1) the degree of causal factors induced by failures in the pre-trial, and 2) the amount of increasing number of ANAGRAM (correct word puzzles) between the pre-trial and the experimental trial. The main findings were as follows: (1) the high public self-consciousness group attributed their failures to more internal and stable dimensions than that of the low-public group. (2) Subjects who was not observed showed a higher level of performance than that of subjects' performance in observed situation. These results suggest the difference of public self-consciousness and the manipulation of observer influenced the causal attribution and task performance respectively.
