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Self-concept clarity: Measurement, personality correlates and cultural boundaries
Abstract
Self-concept clarity (SCC) references a structural spect oftbe self-concept: the extent to which self-beliefs are clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and stable. This article reports the SCC Scale and examines (a) its correlations with self-esteem (SE), the Big Five dimensions, and self-focused attention (Study l); (b) its criterion validity (Study 2); and (c) its cultural boundaries (Study 3). Low SCC was independently associated with high Neuroticism, low SE, low Conscien-tiousness, low Agreeableness, chronic self-analysis, low internal state awareness, and a ruminative form of self-focused attention. The SCC Scale predicted unique variance in 2 external criteria: the stability and consistency of self-descriptions. Consistent with theory on Eastern and Western self-construals, Japanese participants exhibited lower levels of SCC and lower correlations between SCC and SE than did Canadian participants. Within the last couple of decades, psychologists ' view of the self-concept has undergone a dramatic transformation (Markus & Wurf, 1987). Early researchers treated the self-concept as a unitary, monolithic entity--a stable, generalized view of the self--and typically focused their research efforts on a single as-pect of the self-concept, self-esteem. Contemporary research-ers, in contrast, rely on a multifaceted, ynamic construal in which the self-concept is defined as a cognitive schema--an or-ganized knowledge structure that contains traits, values, epi-sodic and semantic memories about the self and controls the processing of self-relevant information (e.g., Greenwald & Prat-
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“The SCS has been shown to have adequate psychometric properties, with a Cronbach’s coefficient alpha value of .86.”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Campbell, J. D., Trapnell, P. D., Heine, S. J., Katz, I. M., Lavallee, L. F., & Lehman, D. R.
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 1996-01
- Volume
- 70
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 141-156
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W2155241100
- Cited by
- 2,088
- References
- 102
- Citations by year
- 2026: 162 · 2025: 148 · 2024: 128 · 2023: 111 · 2022: 150 · 2021: 106 · 2020: 153 · 2019: 120 · 2018: 112 · 2017: 96 · 2016: 85 · 2015: 73 · 2014: 72 · 2013: 69 · 2012: 57
- FWCI
- 15.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2010-07-12)
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Keywords
- self-concept clarity, self-concept, self-esteem, Big Five personality traits, self-focus, rumination, self-analysis, self-construal, East-West comparison, criterion validity
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