A Cybernetic Model of Self-Attention Processes

An analysis of the experiential and behavioral consequences of self-directed attention is proposed, based on cybernetic or information-processing ideas. The proposed model includes the following assumptions: When attention is directed to environmental stimuli, those stimuli are analyzed and categorized according to the person's preexisting recognitory schemas. Self-directed attention often leads to a similar analysis of ^//-information; experientially, such a state of self-focus comprises an enhanced awareness of one's salient self-aspects. In some cases categorization—either of one's context or of some self-element— elicits a response schema, which constitutes a behavioral standard. If a prior categorization has evoked such a behavioral standard, subsequent self-attention engages an automatic sequence in which behavior is altered to conform more closely with the standard. This matching-to-standard is construed as the occurrence within a psychological system of a test-operate-test-exit unit or a negative feedback loop—a cybernetic construct applicable to many different phenomena both within and outside of psychology. More specifically, self-focus when a standard is salient is seen as the "test" or comparison phase of that feedback loop. If the matching-to-standard process is interrupted by one of several specified classes of events, subsequent behavior depends on an outcome expectancy judgment. A favorable outcome expectancy causes a return to the matching-to-standard attempt; an unfavorable expectancy results in behavioral withdrawal. Research support for the model is discussed, and comparisons are made with self-awareness theory, Bandura's theory of fear-based behavior, helplessness theory, and social comparison theory.