What Actually Is It to Be Self-Aware? Exploring the Concept Through Adult Development and Contemporary Research
Self-awareness is a big buzzword in leadership - often touted as the cornerstone of personal growth, emotional intelligence, and effective leadership. But beyond buzzwords and self-help slogans, what does it actually mean to be self-aware? Because generally speaking, we don’t actually have a secure grasp of what this construct actually is.
Recent research has sought to unpack this question with more academic rigour. In their 2022 paper, Defining Self-Awareness in the Context of Adult Development, Carden, Jones, and Passmore conducted a systematic literature review that distilled the concept of self-awareness into a more structured and nuanced framework. Drawing from this and other sources, this blog explores what self-awareness truly entails- and why it's so essential in today's complex world.
Beyond the Mirror: A Working Definition
According to Carden et al. (2022), self-awareness is not just a singular, static trait. Rather, it's a dynamic, developmental process. They define self-awareness as the capacity to reflect upon and understand one’s internal states, behaviours, and their impacts on others- across time, contexts, and perspectives.
This definition emphasises several important components:
Intrapersonal insight: Understanding your thoughts, emotions, values, physiology and motives.
Temporal awareness: Connecting past experiences with present behaviour and future intentions to a reflective and evaluative process.
Contextual adaptability: Recognising how different environments and roles affect your actions.
Interpersonal impact: Understanding how you’re perceived by others and how your actions affect them.
The concept of a ‘capacity’ is dynamic, our capacity for self-awareness can develop and will also change depending upon the specific context we are in. It is not static. It is our competence in recognising, interpreting, and adapting to our internal states and external circumstances that determines how self-aware we are in any given moment.
Two Dimensions: Internal vs. External Self-Awareness
The literature distinguishes between components of self-awareness as being ‘intrapersonal/ internal’ or ‘interpersonal/ external’. Organisational psychologist Tasha Eurich (2018) distinguishes them as :
Internal self-awareness: Clarity about your values, passions, aspirations, and reactions.
External self-awareness: Understanding how others see you, including your behaviour and its effects.
Interestingly, Eurich’s research shows that these two forms are not strongly correlated-meaning you can be introspective yet blind to how you come across, or socially attuned but disconnected from your inner life.
Carden et al.'s review echoes this tension, arguing that true self-awareness requires an integration of both views- what they term “multiperspectival reflection.”
Self-Awareness as a Developmental Journey
Rather than a fixed trait, self-awareness unfolds over time, deeply linked with adult development. Drawing from adult development theories such as Kegan’s Constructive-Developmental Theory and Loevinger’s Stages of Ego Development, Carden et al. argue that self-awareness matures through different stages of meaning-making. Kegan’s theory emphasises that as individuals evolve in how they construct their reality- shifting from being subject to their thoughts, feelings, and social roles, to being able to objectify them and reflect upon them critically.
These developmental stages reflect increasing complexity in one’s self-concept and relational awareness:
Egocentric: The self is largely reactive, impulsive, and focused on immediate needs and desires.
Conformist: The self becomes oriented toward meeting social expectations, with a strong need for external approval and belonging.
Self-authoring: Individuals begin to define their own values and beliefs, gaining the ability to direct their lives from an internal moral compass.
Self-transforming: At this highest stage, individuals recognise the limitations of any single system of meaning, becoming more adaptable, context-sensitive, and capable of holding multiple perspectives simultaneously.
From this perspective, becoming self-aware isn’t just about knowing who you are—it’s about evolving your way of knowing, developing the capacity to reflect on your own meaning-making processes and adapt them over time.
Why Self-Awareness Matters
Whether you're a leader, coach, educator, or just navigating life’s twists, self-awareness is foundational to:
Effective decision-making: Understanding how biases and emotions influence your choices.
Authenticity: Aligning actions with deeply held values.
Resilience and well-being: Managing emotional triggers and cultivating internal stability.
Relational intelligence: Building empathy, trust, and constructive communication.
Research by Ashkanasy and Daus (2005) also ties self-awareness to emotional intelligence- a critical predictor of success in both personal and professional domains.
Cultivating Self-Awareness: More Than Introspection
Simply thinking about yourself more doesn’t guarantee deeper awareness. In fact, excessive rumination can hinder it, not to mention can create negative thought processes. Instead, Whist Carden et al. highlight the need for further research in how we can develop our self-awareness, they advocate for structured reflection, feedback, mindfulness practices, and exposure to diverse perspectives.
While tools like journaling, 360-degree feedback, and mindfulness practices are invaluable for developing self-awareness, they are not enough on their own to fully unlock the depth of insight needed for meaningful growth.
Journaling provides a personal space for self-reflection, allowing individuals to track their thoughts, emotions, and behavioural patterns over time. It offers a tangible way to reflect and process experiences, but without deeper guidance, the self-insights gained through writing can remain unstructured and limited in perspective.
Similarly, 360-degree feedback- gathering input from colleagues, students, or peers, offers an external perspective on how one’s actions are perceived by others. This feedback is crucial for identifying blind spots, but it can be challenging to translate this feedback into actionable change without a reflective process, and often there may be discrepancies between self-evalution and feedback from others leading to confusion.
Mindfulness practices, too, help individuals build present-moment awareness and tune into their thoughts and emotions non-judgmentally, but without a clear method for integrating this awareness into everyday practice, its impact can remain limited.
To truly maximise the effectiveness of these tools and make sense of the insights they provide, coaching is essential. Coaching offers a psychologically safe environment where individuals can delve into their self-reflection more deeply, process feedback in a meaningful way, and develop actionable strategies for growth. This helps to integrate the insights gained from journaling, feedback, and mindfulness into a coherent sense-making process. With coaching, individuals are empowered to translate self-awareness into intentional actions, improving both personal development and effectiveness in their personal and professional roles.
Final Thoughts: A Practice, Not a Destination
True self-awareness is less about having answers and more about developing the competence to ask the right questions and the capacity to do this across contexts. As the literature suggests, it’s a lifelong process, one that involves openness, honesty and a willingness to grow through discomfort.
In a world full of noise, being self-aware might be one of the most radical acts of clarity, knowing ourselves and how our choices and actions affect others empowers us to lead with greater intention, create more meaningful experiences, and foster a more empathetic and inclusive culture.
How are you growing your self-awareness?
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References:
Ashkanasy, N. M., & Daus, C. S. (2005). Rumors of the death of emotional intelligence in organizational behavior are vastly exaggerated. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26(4), 441–452.
Carden, J., Jones, R. J., & Passmore, J. (2022). Defining Self-Awareness in the Context of Adult Development: A Systematic Literature Review. Journal of Management Education, 46(1), 140–177.
Eurich, T. (2018). Insight: The Surprising Truth About How Others See Us, How We See Ourselves, and Why the Answers Matter More Than We Think. Currency.
Kegan, R. (1984). The evolving self: Problem and process in human development. Harvard University Press.
Loevinger, J. (1976). Ego development: Conceptions and theories. Jossey-Bass.