self-consciousness

self- +‎ consciousness

self-consciousness (uncountable)

1. The awareness of the self as an entity.
   • 1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., page 165:

     [A]nd that one great and all-important occasion and provocative of these beliefs was actually the rise of self-consciousness — that is, the coming of the mind to a more or less distinct awareness of itself and of its own operation, and the consequent development and growth of Individualism, and of the Self-centred attitude in human thought and action.

2. Shyness; a feeling of unease in social situations.

• (shyness): shyness