Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Self-Awareness and Its Effects

Self-Awareness and Its Effects

Self-awareness is a psychological state in which the individual becomes the focal point of their attention. This inward focus transforms the self into an object of contemplation and assessment, influencing how individuals perceive their actions and their alignment with personal and societal standards.Triggers and Contexts for Self-AwarenessSelf-awareness can be activated by external stimuli that make individuals visually or audibly aware of themselves, such as mirrors, cameras, or recordings.

Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model

Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model

The Self-Evaluation Maintenance (SEM) model offers a psychological framework to understand how individuals’ self-esteem is influenced by the achievements of others, particularly those with whom they share close personal bonds. The SEM model operates when personal rather than social identity guides individuals. Central to this model is the notion that individuals have an inherent desire to preserve a favorable self-image, which is continuously shaped by interpersonal comparisons and...

Introspection

Introspection

Introspection, long upheld as a reliable route to self-knowledge, involves examining one's thoughts, emotions, and mental processes. It underpins many psychological practices, from mindfulness meditation to psychotherapy and self-help strategies. However, empirical evidence challenges the accuracy of introspection as a means of understanding oneself.Limitations of Introspective InsightSeminal work by Nisbett and Wilson demonstrated that individuals are frequently unaware of the true causes...

The Sense of Self: Reflected Self-Appraisal and Social Comparison

The Sense of Self: Reflected Self-Appraisal and Social Comparison

According to Charles Cooley, we base our image on what we think other people see (Cooley 1902). We imagine how we must appear to others, then react to this speculation. We don certain clothes, prepare our hair in a particular manner, wear makeup, use cologne, and the like—all with the notion that our presentation of ourselves is going to affect how others perceive us. We expect a certain reaction, and, if lucky, we get the one we desire and feel good about it. But more than that, Cooley...

Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping

Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping

People can go to great lengths to protect their self-image and present themselves in ways that they want others to see them. Sociologist Erving Goffman presented the idea that a person is like an actor on a stage. Calling his theory dramaturgy, Goffman believed that we use “impression management” to present ourselves to others as we hope to be perceived. Each situation is a new scene, and individuals perform different roles depending on who is present (Goffman, 1959). Think about the way you...

Self-Serving Bias

Self-Serving Bias

Self-serving bias is a cognitive phenomenon in which individuals attribute positive outcomes to internal factors such as their abilities, intelligence, or effort while attributing negative outcomes to external circumstances. This cognitive distortion helps maintain self-esteem but can also impede objective self-assessment.Theoretical Explanations of Self-Serving BiasTwo primary theories explain the self-serving bias: the cognitive explanation and the motivational explanation.The cognitive...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Gender in action: Stereotype effects in the action observation-verb processing link.

Acta psychologica·2026

Same author

When less humanity is more: A single target compensation phenomenon between human nature and human uniqueness.

Cognition·2026

Same author

Unhealthy food bias in food addiction: behavioral evidence from a probabilistic image choice task.

Journal of eating disorders·2026

Same author

Moving beyond animal models: enriched environments and human substance use disorders.

Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience·2025

Same author

Impact of provoked stress on model-free and model-based reinforcement learning in individuals with alcohol use disorder.

Addictive behaviors reports·2024

Same author

Depressive self-focus bias following failure: an eye-tracking study among individuals with clinical depression.

Frontiers in psychiatry·2024

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 11, 2026

A Modified Mirror Test as a Visual Guide for the Self-awareness Trait in Wild Antarctica Penguins, Pygoscelis adeliae

A Modified Mirror Test as a Visual Guide for the Self-awareness Trait in Wild Antarctica Penguins, Pygoscelis adeliae

Published on: July 8, 2025

The mirror effect: self-awareness alone increases suicide thought accessibility.

Leila Selimbegović¹, Armand Chatard

¹Department of Psychology, Center for Research on Cognition and Learning (CeRCA), UMR 7295, University of Poitiers and National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), France.

Consciousness and Cognition

|May 28, 2013

Summary

Looking in a mirror may increase accessibility of suicide-related thoughts. Objective self-awareness theory suggests this occurs because people compare themselves to standards, potentially leading to escape motivation.

Keywords:

Cognitive accessibility Escape theory Mirror exposure Self-awareness Suicide

More Related Videos

Design and Implementation of an fMRI Study Examining Thought Suppression in Young Women with, and At-risk, for Depression

Design and Implementation of an fMRI Study Examining Thought Suppression in Young Women with, and At-risk, for Depression

Published on: May 19, 2015

A New Method for Inducing a Depression-Like Behavior in Rats

A New Method for Inducing a Depression-Like Behavior in Rats

Published on: February 22, 2018

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 11, 2026

A Modified Mirror Test as a Visual Guide for the Self-awareness Trait in Wild Antarctica Penguins, Pygoscelis adeliae

A Modified Mirror Test as a Visual Guide for the Self-awareness Trait in Wild Antarctica Penguins, Pygoscelis adeliae

Published on: July 8, 2025

Design and Implementation of an fMRI Study Examining Thought Suppression in Young Women with, and At-risk, for Depression

Design and Implementation of an fMRI Study Examining Thought Suppression in Young Women with, and At-risk, for Depression

Published on: May 19, 2015

A New Method for Inducing a Depression-Like Behavior in Rats

A New Method for Inducing a Depression-Like Behavior in Rats

Published on: February 22, 2018

Area of Science:

Psychology
Cognitive Neuroscience

Background:

Objective self-awareness theory posits that self-awareness triggers self-to-standard comparisons.
Unfavorable comparisons can be perceived as failure, activating an escape motivation.
Previous research links failure to increased accessibility of suicide-related thoughts.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if mere mirror exposure increases suicide thought accessibility.
To test the hypothesis that self-awareness alone can prime suicide ideation.

Main Methods:

Participants completed a lexical decision task involving suicide-related words.
Exposure to a mirror reflection was manipulated (present vs. absent).
Self-to-standard discrepancy salience was varied by trait listing timing.

Main Results:

Mirror-exposed individuals recognized suicide-related words faster than controls.
The effect of mirror exposure on thought accessibility was significant.
Self-to-standard discrepancy salience did not moderate this effect.

Conclusions:

Mirror exposure can increase the accessibility of suicide-related thoughts.
This effect may be mediated by the motivation to escape self-awareness.
Findings contribute to understanding the cognitive underpinnings of suicide ideation.