Self-knowledge and social desirability of personality traits

Research into the self-concept has shown that self-knowledge is a ected by factors such as trait desirability, trait vagueness, and self-variability. Among these, social desirability appears to play a prominent role. In a multidimensional view of the self, however, several studies indicate that in special conditions people show adequate self- knowledge in speci®c personality dimensions. The present study tests this with respect to extraversion and anxiety predisposition on a sample of 160 late adolescents. The main results con®rm the prominent in ̄uence of social desirability, but they also provide support for the hypothesis of the speci®city of self-perception. Despite a common pattern, the e ects of desirability appeared, to some extent, to be less strong for anxiety than for extraversion. Several possible interpretations of this ®nding are discussed.