title: Development and validation of the situational self-awareness scale.
abstract: This article discusses the manipulation and measurement of levels of situational self-focus, which is generally labeled "self-awareness." A new scale was developed to quantify levels of public and private self-awareness. Five studies were conducted to assess the psychometric properties, reliability, and validity of the Situational Self-Awareness Scale (SSAS). The SSAS was found to have a reliable factor structure, to detect differences in public and private self-awareness produced by laboratory manipulations, and to be sensitive to changes in self-awareness within individuals over time and across situations. The SSAS can be used as a manipulation check of laboratory self-awareness manipulations and as a means of assessing naturally occurring fluctuations in public and private self-awareness in order to clarify the relation between self-awareness and other variables (e.g., mood and memory).
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Towson University, Towson, MD 21252, USA. jgovern@towson.edu
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Govern
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Marsch
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D004532:Ego; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires