TY - JOUR
T1 - On the Relationship Between Self-Focused Attention and Psychological Disorder
T2 - A Critical Reappraisal
AU - Pyszczynski, Tom
AU - Greenberg, Jeff
AU - Hamilton, James
AU - Nix, Glen
PY - 1991/11
Y1 - 1991/11
N2 - A recent review of the literature on the role of self-focused attention in psychological dysfunction (Ingram, 1990) is critically examined. This article (a) reexamines the evidence relevant to Ingram's proposal that self-awareness is a nonspecific factor involved in virtually all forms of psychopathology and argues that this conclusion is not warranted by the existing evidence; (b) takes issue with his premise that the fact that self-awareness is associated with a variety of psychological dysfunctions poses a conceptual dilemma; (c) corrects several important inaccuracies and mischaracterizations in his presentation of Carver and Scheier's (1981) cybernetic control theory and Pyszczynski and Greenberg's (1987) self-regulatory perseveration theory; and (d) critiques the "self-absorption" model that he proposed as an alternative to extant theories and concludes that this conceptualization does not add to the understanding of either self-awareness processes or psychopathology.
AB - A recent review of the literature on the role of self-focused attention in psychological dysfunction (Ingram, 1990) is critically examined. This article (a) reexamines the evidence relevant to Ingram's proposal that self-awareness is a nonspecific factor involved in virtually all forms of psychopathology and argues that this conclusion is not warranted by the existing evidence; (b) takes issue with his premise that the fact that self-awareness is associated with a variety of psychological dysfunctions poses a conceptual dilemma; (c) corrects several important inaccuracies and mischaracterizations in his presentation of Carver and Scheier's (1981) cybernetic control theory and Pyszczynski and Greenberg's (1987) self-regulatory perseveration theory; and (d) critiques the "self-absorption" model that he proposed as an alternative to extant theories and concludes that this conceptualization does not add to the understanding of either self-awareness processes or psychopathology.
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U2 - 10.1037/0033-2909.110.3.538
DO - 10.1037/0033-2909.110.3.538
M3 - Review article
C2 - 1758922
AN - SCOPUS:0026247523
VL - 110
SP - 538
EP - 543
JO - Psychological Bulletin
JF - Psychological Bulletin
SN - 0033-2909
IS - 3
ER -