Self-consciousness, negative assessment

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test the relationships between avoidance goals self consciousness and fear of negative evaluation and to determine the role of fear of negative evaluation on the relationships between avoidance goals and self consciousness.

Findings obtained from 932 middle school students indicated that self consciousness was a mediator between fear of negative evaluation and avoidance orientation. In addition, there was an interaction between self consciousness and perception of performance oriented classroom structure for fear of evaluation. Although perception of performance oriented classroom orientation was predictive of fear of negative evaluation, the impact was higher when students were also high self consciousness.