The Looking Glass Self: The Impact of Explicit Self-Awareness on Self-Esteem

Cooley (1902) introduced the looking glass self as an individual’s self-concept defined, in part, by societal heuristics. Silvia and Phillips (2013) showed self-awareness (SA) was influenced by presenting stimuli that both explicitly increase SA (e.g., mirrors) and implicitly increase SA (e.g., name priming). Objective SA theory, coined by Duval and Wicklund (1972) and updated by Silvia and Duval (2001), stated SA could occur without explicit stimuli (Silvia & Phillips, 2013). Research has not yet addressed this prediction. The current study assessed the impact of increasing explicit SA on self-esteem by administering an adapted version of Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965) on reflective or non-reflective surfaces. 120 undergraduate participants (60 M, 60 F) were selected using purposive sampling and randomly assigned to complete the RSES on one surface. Attention was drawn to surface-type and responses were provided to RSES questions. A two-way ANOVA showed no difference in RSES scores by surface (p = .348) or gender (p = .271). These findings show the presence or absence of a reflective surface does not impact self-esteem, thus, the reflective surface did not influence SA. These results either suggest that SA does not directly impact self-esteem or the possibility of a need to find an alternate way of manipulating SA prior to assessing self-esteem. Self-esteem is defined in many ways, often varying by individual and situation. For the purpose of the current study, self-esteem is defined as feelings about oneself based on the presence of implicit or explicit stimuli and self-perception is defined as the way an individual perceives themselves in the presence of these same implicit or explicit stimuli. The current study assessed the impact of increasing explicit self-awareness using an adapted version of the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965) printed on either a reflective (i.e., mirrored) or non-reflective (i.e., non-mirrored) surface on individual RSES scores. The purpose of the reflective surface was to increase self-awareness. Cooley (1902) introduced the looking glass self as an individual’s self-concept defined, in part, by societal heuristics. Cooley used the old English term for mirror, the looking glass, as a metaphor to describe an individual’s reflection of themselves in terms of their social self (Shaffer, 2005). Cooley’s idea of the looking glass self is explained in two steps, (1) we imagine how we appear to another person, and (2) we imagine how the person feels about us, based on the judgments made (Cooley, 1902). Although, in the current study, self-esteem was evaluated individually, the presence of the mirror as an explicit stimulus provided a basis for participants to reflect on their own appearance. This self-reflection may have been contributed to by society. Upon examination of Cooley’s theory of the looking glass self, Thomas Scheff developed a theory of emotions based on Cooley’s work (Scheff, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 2000, 2003). Scheff (1988) coined this theory the Cooley-Scheff conjecture. The Cooley-Scheff conjecture provided that one’s current emotional state was at least partially defined by how the individual felt assessed by others (Shaffer, 2005). Most research done on male and female behavior in regard to self-esteem suggests male self-esteem is, on average, higher than female self-esteem (Kling, Hyde, Showers, Buswell, 1999). Because of these findings, the participant variable of gender was examined in the current study. Objective self-awareness theory (Duval & Wicklund, 1972; Wicklund & Duval, 1971) represented the inception of the social psychology of self-awareness. Objective selfawareness theory takes into account the consequences of focusing attention on the self (Duval & Wicklund, 1972; Wicklund & Duval, 1971). The most common results of self-focused attention are, (1) conscious awareness can be established by directly focusing attention on oneself, and (2) when individuals experience this sense of conscious awareness, they begin to experience a sense of self-consciousness (Silvia & Gendolla, 2001). Placing an individual in front of a mirror is a common way to manipulate selffocused attention and, in turn, create conscious awareness of oneself (e.g., Carver & Scheier, 1978). The current study aimed to create a state of conscious awareness where self-focused attention was promoted via the use of a reflective surface. In empirical research, self-esteem is often quantified (McLeod, 2012). The current study assessed the impact of increasing explicit self-awareness on self-esteem by administering an adapted version of the RSES (Rosenberg, 1965; see Appendix A) on reflective or non-reflective surfaces. The RSES is one of the most widely used selfesteem scales in the social sciences (University of Maryland, 2015). For the purpose of the current study, the RSES was adapted from a 4-point to a 7-point Likert scale with options ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree and including a neutral option. Scoring was extrapolated from the original RSES, which had a total of 30 points with scores above 25 indicating high self-esteem and scores below 15 indicating low self-esteem. Scores on the adapted RSES ranged from 0-60 with scores of 50 and above indicating high self-esteem and scores below 30 indicating low self-esteem. The independent variable of surface-type had two levels which were participant’s completion of the RSES on (1) a reflective surface or (2) a non-reflective surface. To reproduce the looking glass effect, it is best to test naturally occurring groups where self-esteem is malleable (Cast, Stets, & Burke, 1999; Ichiyama, 1993). In the current study, undergraduates from a small liberal arts college were chosen via purposive sampling and placed in randomly assigned surface-type groups. The dependent measure was the participant’s self-esteem score as measured by the RSES. The participant variable of gender (male, female) was also considered. Based on previous research regarding the looking glass self (Cooley, 1902), objective self-awareness (Duval & Wicklund, 1972; Wicklund & Duval, 1971), self-focused attention (Silvia & Gendolla, 2001), and the impact of explicit stimuli on self-awareness, it was hypothesized that (1) individual self-esteem would be impacted by the presence of an explicit stimulus during completion of the RSES, and (2) overall, female RSES scores would be lower than male RSES scores.