Self-consciousness
A facet of neuroticism. Four items in the IPIP-NEO-120.
The fourth facet of neuroticism is discomfort under other people's attention: being easily embarrassed, finding it hard to approach strangers, and feeling at ease only with people one knows. It is the facet closest to what people mean by shyness, and it is distinct from introversion.
What it does not mean
It is not introversion. Introversion is a preference for less company; self-consciousness is unease when company is unfamiliar or watching. The two are only loosely related, and the site measures them on different scales: a shy extravert wants company and finds it hard, a confident introvert finds it easy and wants less of it.
A high score is not a lack of social skill. Many high scorers are observant, tactful and well liked; they feel the attention more than others do.
Four items make a short scale. A facet score moves more between attempts than the 24-item domain score, and it describes a tendency in ordinary life as the person reports it, not a diagnosis of anything.
High and low in daily life
High. People high on this facet say they find it difficult to approach others, are afraid to draw attention to themselves and only feel comfortable with friends. In daily life that shows as rehearsing a phone call before making it, avoiding the front of a room, blushing easily, and relief when a social event is cancelled.
Low. People low on this facet say they are not bothered by difficult social situations and are comfortable approaching strangers. In daily life that shows as speaking first, taking criticism in public without visible discomfort, and not minding being watched. It is sometimes mistaken for extraversion, which is a different thing.
Parent domain
- Neuroticism: the broad trait this facet belongs to, with five sibling facets.
What the research says it predicts
Shyness and sociability are separate dimensions: a person can be shy and want company, or unsociable and at ease. The classic demonstration found the two only modestly correlated. (Cheek and Buss, 1981)
This facet belongs to the withdrawal aspect of neuroticism, with worry, low mood and vulnerability, rather than to the volatility aspect of anger and immoderation. (DeYoung, Quilty and Peterson, 2007)
It relates to lower life satisfaction, as every neuroticism facet does, with a smaller effect than the low-mood facet. (Anglim and others, 2020)
Where people fall
The spread of scores
Curve height shows how common each score is; the darker middle holds half of all people. If you have taken a test on this device, your marker is drawn on.
IPIP-NEO-120, self-consciousness, 4 items
410,376 people
The other facets of neuroticism
Sources and licence
Cheek, J. M., & Buss, A. H. (1981). Shyness and sociability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41(2), 330-339. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.41.2.330
DeYoung, C. G., Quilty, L. C., & Peterson, J. B. (2007). Between facets and domains: 10 aspects of the Big Five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(5), 880-896. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.93.5.880
Anglim, J., Horwood, S., Smillie, L. D., Marrero, R. J., & Wood, J. K. (2020). Predicting psychological and subjective well-being from personality: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 146(4), 279-323. doi:10.1037/bul0000226
Instrument: IPIP-NEO-120. Johnson, J. A. (2014). Measuring thirty facets of the Five Factor Model with a 120-item public domain inventory: Development of the IPIP-NEO-120. Journal of Research in Personality, 51, 78-89. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2014.05.003 Key: https://ipip.ori.org/30FacetNEO-PI-RItems.htm.
Norms: Johnson, J. A. IPIP-NEO-120 public dataset (IPIP120.dat), OSF component wxvth of osf.io/tbmh5, https://osf.io/wxvth/.
Licence: Public domain (IPIP). Permission is granted automatically for any person to use IPIP items for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial. https://ipip.ori.org/newPermission.htm
Instrument: IPIP Big-Five Factor Markers. Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the Big-Five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4(1), 26-42. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.4.1.26 Key: https://ipip.ori.org/newBigFive5broadKey.htm.
Norms: Open-Source Psychometrics Project, IPIP Big-Five Factor Markers responses (IPIP-FFM-data-8Nov2018.zip), 1,015,342 responses collected 2016 to 2018, https://openpsychometrics.org/_rawdata/.
Licence: Public domain (IPIP). Permission is granted automatically for any person to use IPIP items for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial. https://ipip.ori.org/newPermission.htm