title: Trait salience in the spontaneous self-concept.
abstract: A discrimination theory of selective perception was used to predict that a given trait would be spontaneously salient in a person's self-concept to the exten that this trait was distinctive for the person within her or his social groups. Sixth-grade students' general and physical spontaneous self-concepts were elicited in their classroom settings. The distinctiveness within the classroom of each student's characteristics on each of a variety of dimensions was determined, and it was found that in a majority of cases the dimension was significantly more salient in the spontaneous self-concepts of those students whose characteristic on thedimension was more distinctive. Also reported are incidental findings which include a description of the contents of spontaneous self-comcepts as well as determinants of their length and of the spontaneous mention of one's sex as part of one's self-concept.
mesh_terms: D001828:Body Image; D002648:Child; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012107:Research Design; D012649:Self Concept; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012737:Sex Factors