<p><em>This is just a sketch of an answer</em>.
It is important to clarify how we define "self-awareness".</p>

<p><strong>The self</strong>: There is a huge social psychological literature on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self" rel="nofollow">self</a>.
For a scientific review, see for example Ellemers et al (2002).
Even the concept of self-awareness is contentious in that it posits that there is a self to be discovered whereas I assume most researchers would acknowledge that the self is at least partially a social construction.</p>

<p><strong>Psychological well-being:</strong> A sense of self-awareness also relates to many other constructs such as having a sense of life purpose or meaning. For more information on that you could look at the psychological well-being literature. At the risk of self-promotion, I can point you to Grant et al (2009) where we reported some of Big 5 correlates of psychological well-being where for example we showed that self-reported purpose in life (i.e., a little bit like self-awareness)  correlated well with high extraversion (r=.33), high conscientiousness (r=.45) and low neuroticism (r = -.44).</p>

<p><strong>Self-efficacy:</strong> An alternative perspective would be to look at self-efficacy research. Such research often looks at the relationship between a person's predicted and actual performance. Such research often shows that specific performance feedback with practice is important in generating accurate self-beliefs about one's own competence.</p>

<p><strong>Self-other correlations</strong>: I imagine also that there is literature that looks at self-other correlations for various characteristics. It would be interesting to see what predicts the size of self-other discrepancies in such domains as personality, and performance. Unfortunately, I don't have any particular references on hand.</p>

<h3>References</h3>

<ul>
<li>Ellemers, N., Spears, R., &amp; Doosje, B. (2002). Self and Social Identity*. Annual review of psychology, 53(1), 161-186. <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135228" rel="nofollow">PDF</a></li>
<li>Grant, S., Langan-Fox, J., &amp; Anglim, J. (2009). Big Five Traits as predictors of subjective and psychological well-being. Psychological Reports, 105, 201-231. <a href="https://github.com/downloads/jeromyanglim/jeromy-anglim-publications/grant2009big.pdf" rel="nofollow">PDF</a></li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-12-10T22:06:53.280Z
interesting article about the Big Five Traits. I never thought of subjective and psychological well-being as so different. but I do see how life purpose could correlate to self-awareness.....
Greg McNulty
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-12-07T05:50:42.063Z
2012-12-08T03:04:04.827Z
2012-12-08T03:04:04.827Z
Jeromy Anglim
<p>I'm looking for references to studies that show which variables increase or decrease <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-awareness#A_modern_scientific_view">self-awareness</a> and to what degree. </p>

<p>For example, <strong>internal variables</strong> could be level of a certain vitamin, brain chemical, oxygen level, form of spine, etc. and/or <strong>external variables</strong> like emotional trauma, meditation, altitude, contact with water, etc.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-12-10T06:02:59.080Z
It seems like you are looking for something actionable. Take a look at neuromodulators. They are still far too theoretical though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromodulation
Alex Stone
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-12-10T22:07:58.120Z
@AlexStone: do you understand neuromodulation well enough to come up with any type of summary to self awareness? i am not sure what to make of it...?
Greg McNulty
<consciousness>
What are the internal and external variables for varying levels of self-awareness?
Greg McNulty
# What are the internal and external variables for varying levels of self-awareness?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-12-06)

I'm looking for references to studies that show which variables increase or decrease [self-awareness](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-awareness#A_modern_scientific_view) and to what degree.

For example, **internal variables** could be level of a certain vitamin, brain chemical, oxygen level, form of spine, etc. and/or **external variables** like emotional trauma, meditation, altitude, contact with water, etc.

**Tags:** consciousness

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: It seems like you are looking for something actionable. Take a look at neuromodulators. They are still far too theoretical though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromodulation  
> **username_0**: @AlexStone: do you understand neuromodulation well enough to come up with any type of summary to self awareness? i am not sure what to make of it...?  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2012-12-07. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

*This is just a sketch of an answer*.
It is important to clarify how we define "self-awareness".

**The self**: There is a huge social psychological literature on the [self](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self).
For a scientific review, see for example Ellemers et al (2002).
Even the concept of self-awareness is contentious in that it posits that there is a self to be discovered whereas I assume most researchers would acknowledge that the self is at least partially a social construction.

**Psychological well-being:** A sense of self-awareness also relates to many other constructs such as having a sense of life purpose or meaning. For more information on that you could look at the psychological well-being literature. At the risk of self-promotion, I can point you to Grant et al (2009) where we reported some of Big 5 correlates of psychological well-being where for example we showed that self-reported purpose in life (i.e., a little bit like self-awareness) correlated well with high extraversion (r=.33), high conscientiousness (r=.45) and low neuroticism (r = -.44).

**Self-efficacy:** An alternative perspective would be to look at self-efficacy research. Such research often looks at the relationship between a person's predicted and actual performance. Such research often shows that specific performance feedback with practice is important in generating accurate self-beliefs about one's own competence.

**Self-other correlations**: I imagine also that there is literature that looks at self-other correlations for various characteristics. It would be interesting to see what predicts the size of self-other discrepancies in such domains as personality, and performance. Unfortunately, I don't have any particular references on hand.

### References

* Ellemers, N., Spears, R., & Doosje, B. (2002). Self and Social Identity\*. Annual review of psychology, 53(1), 161-186. [PDF](http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135228)
* Grant, S., Langan-Fox, J., & Anglim, J. (2009). Big Five Traits as predictors of subjective and psychological well-being. Psychological Reports, 105, 201-231. [PDF](https://github.com/downloads/jeromyanglim/jeromy-anglim-publications/grant2009big.pdf)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: interesting article about the Big Five Traits. I never thought of subjective and psychological well-being as so different. but I do see how life purpose could correlate to self-awareness.....  

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