THE CONSTRUCT «EXTERNAL SELF» AS COMPONENT OF PUBLIC SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE DISPOSITIONAL BASIS OF SOCIABLE BEHAVIOUR: THEORETICAL VALIDATION ATTEMPT

Abstract

The article contains an attempt to theoretically validate the empirical construct «external self» obtained as a result of factorization of diagnostic data of teen-age respondents (n = 1457). Several implicit and explicit lines of analysis of the construct «external self» are distinguished: dispositional, socio-behavioural and age-related genesis. The explicit notions of sociability as a characteristic of temperament and personality traits are analyzed. It is shown that the implicit construct of «external self» exists in psychology as a substructure of the Self and a manifestation of public self-consciousness, as a phenomenon of identification and a manifestation of the need to «be like others», as a value-motivational component of the desire for love, the motivation for affiliation, the fear of judgment and the desire to earn the love and approval of others as a component of normative, conformal behaviour, as a motivational regulator of the activity and life of the individual. «External self», on the one hand, is an individual psychological disposition, a symptom complex of personality traits that can be interpreted as the dispositional basis of social behaviour. On the other hand, the «external self» as a construct has a behavioural component – social behaviour itself. It is defined as the ability of the individual to coordinate and adjust social activity in accordance with the expectations of others, groups, social norms and requirements. As an individual psychological disposition, «external self» is a cluster of interconnected personality characteristics (cognitive, regulatory, behavioural), which play an important role in the process of socio-psychological adaptation. The behavioural component of «external self» (sociable behaviour) is an indirect indicator of the sociocentric developmental tendency (as opposed to egocentric one as an orientation toward personal values and meanings). The features of «external self» are considered as a positive and negative connotation of the personality, its potential and risks in the development of personality during the growing up period. It is determined that the construct «external self» is not an artifact and can be interpreted as an age and socio-psychological characteristic of the manifestation of social component in personality during adolescence and youth