Self-Awareness Examples, Types, & Explanation

As we move through life, many of us move through life stages—or developmental stages—that shift how we view and make sense of ourselves and our world (Cook-Greuter, 2014). In other words, our awareness shifts as we move into new stages on the developmental path. 

Many of us get stuck along the way, but assuming we don’t get stuck, we shift through these different types of awareness without even realizing it. 
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Here are the primary types of awareness (or worldviews) of each developmental stage and the approximate ages that the majority of people are at when they reach each stage (Cook-Grueter, 2014):
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• Red – awareness of the body (~early childhood)
• Orange – awareness of social interactions (~mid-childhood)
• Yellow – awareness of behaviors or actions (~adolescence-college; many people stop at this stage and remain here throughout adulthood)
• Green – awareness of emotions or outcomes (~adulthood; The majority of people do not move beyond this stage and remain here throughout adulthood)
• Teal – awareness of thoughts or perspectives (~11% of adults)
• Blue – awareness of beliefs (~5% of adults)
• Indigo – awareness of awareness (~1.5% of adults)
• Violet – awareness of oneness (~0.5% of adults)

Depending on which stage we are in, our awareness will focus on different aspects of ourselves. In other words, we have a different type of self-awareness. When we transcend our current stage, we gain the self-awareness of the next stage while still including the previous one (Wilber, 2007). Thus, awareness expands. For example, now matter what stage you’re in, you can always shift your awareness to yourself as a physical body (which is the earliest stage of awareness).
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Let’s now explore what self-awareness focuses on at each developmental stage.

At the red stage, we have first-person awareness and are aware of ourselves as a body. Examples of self-awareness at this stage might include being aware of our bodily needs and desires. We might need food or comfort, pleasure, or to avoid pain. 

The majority of people (who have healthy childhoods) move beyond this stage in early childhood. When we transcend this stage and move into the next one, our self-awareness expands beyond the physical body. 

At the orange stage, we have second-person awareness, and we are aware of ourselves within our small group (family, social group, religion, race, political group, etc…). Many teenagers are in this stage and approximately 10% of the adult population is in this stage (Cook-Grueter, 2014). 

Examples of self-awareness at this stage might include being aware that we need to follow certain norms of our group (e.g., saying thank you, please, and sorry). We see ourselves as part of ‘our’ group, and with this awareness, we begin to develop many important social skills like communication, prosociality, empathy, and kindness.

At the yellow stage, we develop third-person awareness, and we begin to see ourselves as an agentic, unique individual. Teens may reach this stage, particularly when they begin college and are exposed to new ideas that are different than what they learned from their parents, church, or community. Many people—approximately 37%—reach this stage and stay there for the majority of their adult lives (Cook-Grueter, 2014; Wilber, 2007). 

Examples of self-awareness at this stage might include describing ourselves as our individual personality traits, skills, or knowledge. Because our self-concept now includes individual characteristics—how we are different from others—social comparison and competitiveness can be very strong at this stage. And, if we engage our self-awareness—through acts like self-reflection or mindfulness—our awareness will tend to focus on our stable personality traits, skills, or behaviors (Cook-Grueter, 2014). ​

At the green stage, we extend our third-person awareness across time, and we begin to see ourselves as a unique individual with both a past and a future. Approximately 30% of the adult population is in this stage (Cook-Grueter, 2014). 

Examples of self-awareness at this stage might include an awareness of how we moved through time to get where we are. Given this awareness, we tend to focus on our awareness on achievements and outcomes—we can see how our actions led to our outcomes or experiences and this can be very exciting and empowering. We might also view our unique personality traits as a bit less fixed—we see how even our identity has changed over time. Thus, we become aware of ourselves—and our world—as impermanent and ever-changing.

If we’re lucky enough to reach the teal stage, we develop fourth-person awareness, and we begin to see ourselves as just one perspective in a sea of other perspectives. Approximately 11% of the adult population is in this stage (Cook-Grueter, 2014). 

Examples of self-awareness at this stage might include awareness of the nuances of our own perspective and how this differs from other people’s perspectives. Given this awareness, we tend to focus either on self-reflection—to better understand how our perspective is similar and different to those we interact with—or on promoting what we perceive to be unheard perspectives. Awareness of perspectives—and that we all have challenges, pains, and emotions—enhances empathy and draws our awareness into others’ experiences so that we can better understand why conflicts emerge and how to resolve them. 

At the indigo stage, we develop fifth-person awareness. Since all of us live in a world where third-person is the norm (i.e., yellow and green stages), fifth-person awareness can be quite a shock. Awareness begins to see in a totally different way. If you’ve ever heard of the term “witnessing awareness”, this is the type of awareness that begins to emerge at this stage (e.g., Goode, 2016). Only 1.5% of the adult population is in this stage (Cook-Grueter, 2014). 

Examples of self-awareness at this stage might include being aware of awareness, itself. In previous stages, we became aware of things like thoughts, emotions, behaviors, experiences, and even limiting beliefs. But at this stage, we step outside of that awareness and begin to watch awareness watching thoughts, emotions, behaviors, experiences, and beliefs. 

For example, we might witness ourselves observing our thoughts. Or, we might witness ourselves engaging in certain actions. It can feel a bit funny to experience our reality from this removed perspective—kind of like we are watching ourselves play a role in a movie, but we also experiencing what the character experiences. 

For example, we might watch ourselves having an argument with our spouse. We’re not able to stop ourselves from doing whatever we do in a fight, but the fight feels different—we begin to see how nonsensical it all is. 

This awareness of awareness also enables us to see the extreme amount of suffering we create for ourselves, which can be both a painful realization and a beneficial experience that aids us in letting go of bad habits. Thus, self-awareness at this stage often means understanding our attachments to things—including aspects of our self-concept—that make us suffer.

At the violet stage, we develop sixth-person awareness. At this stage, we’re finally able to move beyond self-awareness into ‘awareness’ (Goode, 2016). The witnessing awareness of the indigo stage is still part of the self-concept—it is experienced as our​ awareness. At the violet stage, we move into a broader ‘oneness’ awareness which is sometimes called cosmic consciousness (Wikipedia, n.d.). 

Note. According to Ken Wilber (2007), we can reach the state of cosmic consciousness prior to reaching this stage. It is thought that this awareness only becomes permanent once we reach this stage.

Given we’ve moved beyond the outer layer of the self-concept (or ego), examples of self-awareness at this stage are much broader and might include being aware of oneself as everything, part of ‘the one’ (as Eckhart Tolle suggests), or an interweaving aspect of ‘all that is’.

• Cook-Greuter, S. (2014). Ego development: A full-spectrum theory of vertical growth and meaning-making. mimeo, Wayland.
  
• Goode, G. (2016). After Awareness: The End of the Path. New Harbinger Publications.
  
• Wikipedia. (n.d.). Cosmic Consciousness. Retrieved 11/4/2024 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_Consciousness
  
• ​Wilber, K. (2007). Integral spirituality: A startling new role for religion in the modern and postmodern world. Shambhala Publications.