Self-Concept Clarity: Evaluation of Self, Peer, and Professional Ratings

Abstract

This study examined clarity as one of Super's metadimensions of self-concept. Participants included 44 graduate students enrolled in two introductory counseling courses. They were randomly assigned to one of two groups: (a) a student group that selected self-descriptive terms from the Adjective Check List (ACL), organized them to depict attributes of their own self-concepts, and rated their own clarity; and (b) a peer group that judged the self-concept clarity of the student group. A group of professional psychologists (n = 5) also judged the self-concept clarity of the student group. Each group used three Likert-type rating scales to evaluate clarity of self-concept with the following results: (a) sharpness and global ratings were more reliable than differentiation ratings, (b) convergent validity values for peers and professionals on all three rating scales were significant at the.01 level, and (c) significant differences were found among self-judged clarity and other judged clarity for all three scales.