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The Imaginary Audience, Self‐Consciousness, and Public Individuation in Adolescence
Author(s) -
Ryan Richard M.,
Kuczkowski Rebecca
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1994.tb00292.x
Subject(s) - the imaginary , individuation , psychology , consciousness , construct (python library) , context (archaeology) , self consciousness , social psychology , self , developmental psychology , psychoanalysis , paleontology , neuroscience , computer science , biology , programming language
In this study, we examined the construct of the imaginary audience (Elkind & Bowen, 1979), presumably a precipitant of adolescent egocentrism, as it relates to public individuation and self‐consciousness. We hypothesized that the imaginary audience inhibits public individuation and represents a critical form of public self‐consciousness. We also argued that the imaginary audience is a normal aspect of early adolescent development that diminishes in the context of secure parental relationships by late adolescence but remains salient if these relationships are insecure. These hypotheses were examined in a cross‐sectional study of 850 adolescents in the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 12th grades. Support was generally found for the hypothesized relations. The validity and limitations of the imaginary audience and public individuation constructs are discussed, along with more general theoretical issues concerning adolescent self‐consciousness.