Previous research has suggested that individuals will modify their self concepts in the direction of the feedback they receive from others. Based on the notion that private self-consciousness is a general strategy of adaptation in the social world, the self concepts of 80 persons representing 4 types of private self-consciousness and either investigated high or low private self-consciousness and either high or medium to low social anxiety. Subjects responded to self-report questionnaires and were evaluated by friends. The socially poised, low private self-conscious subjects had the most positive general self esteem and reported the least amount of imagined embarrassment in situations where they supposedly committed socially clumsy acts. The results indicate that, in general, the tendency of low private self-conscious individuals to avoid self-awareness helps them maintain self concepts that are discrepant with what significant others think of them. (Author/JAC)