Being true to oneself, living according to one’s own inviolable values, and expressing unique talents and characteristics are standards of today’s society for a “good life.” However, according to studies, self-actualization encompasses much less elevated issues, mainly of status and success, predominantly in professional circles and in caring for family members.
In general, we consider the experience of authenticity to mean that we live according to who we really are, without deception or presumption, tuned in and living in the moment. Authenticity appears to require deep self-recognition and lack of hypocrisy, promising deep honesty and open connection with others. Being authentic is being comfortable with vulnerability. Being authentic is being consistent over time.
However, research suggests that the experience of authenticity may simply be feeling good, regardless of other factors. In psychological terms, do we feel authentic when our current behavior (changing personality “states”) matches our stable set of long-term personality “traits”? What we believe to be authentic may, importantly, have little to do with what is actually authentic.
To investigate whether feeling authentic comes from personality alignment with ongoing behavior, researchers conducted a study to compare the hypothesis that equates acting consistently with feeling authentic, with the hypothesis that equates feeling good with feeling authentic. To do this, they asked three questions:
- To what extent does the trait state consistency predict experienced authenticity? We might expect that when our long-term personality characteristics match our everyday experience of ourselves as we go through our lives, we will experience greater authenticity. But previous research hasn’t shown that clearly. And work on authenticity has generally relied on participants’ self-reported feelings of authenticity, without further examining whether the sense of authenticity fits with self-consistent behavior.
- To what extent do positive feelings predict experienced authenticity? Previous research, according to Cooper and his colleagues, suggests that when people feel authentic, they may actually feel positive about what is happening and feel good about themselves. Research to date has not systematically explored this question.
- To what extent do situational characteristics predict trait state consistency and experienced authenticity? Finally, the study’s authors note that it may be that environmental factors determine whether one feels authentic or not, in addition to any interactions of personality and behavior. What happens on a given day can influence the experience of authenticity.
As part of a larger study, the researchers recruited more than 200 participants from an American college population to analyze the relationships between short- and long-term personality characteristics, the experience of authenticity, and situational factors. Each participant reported eight times a day on various measures of interest after completing a set of baseline measures in the laboratory, reporting on their personal experiences and the situations they found themselves in when they received a prompt as they went about their daily lives. . Participants reported on their experiences using the following tools:
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- Personality traits were assessed at the beginning of the study using the , which asks participants to rate themselves on enduring qualities (“global trait dimensions”) including honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness. This scale covers the Big 5 of openness, agreeableness, neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness, along with a few other aspects of personality.
- Situational factors were assessed using the S8-I, which asks about the “Eight Situational DIAMONDS,” an inventory of factors that define important activities to varying degrees, including: 1) Duty: the job must be done; 2) Intellect: deep thinking is required; 3) Adversity: someone is being threatened, blamed or criticized; 4) Couples: potential romantic partners are present; 5) Positivity: the situation is enjoyable; 6) Negativity: the situation includes negative feelings; 7) Deception: Someone is being deceived; and 8) Sociability: social interaction is possible or required.
- Personality states during specific situations were assessed using the same HEXACO personality items mentioned above, with each of the items queried on a polarized scale, for example, for emotionality ranging from “nervous, emotional” to “calm, emotionless”.
- For experienced authenticity, participants responded on a scale from “Authentic (true to myself)” to “Iauthentic (untrue to myself)” about how they felt about each report.
- Similarly, for positive feelings, participants responded to questions about happiness (“happy, positive” to “sad, negative”) and self-esteem (“feeling good about myself” to “feeling bad about myself”).
Regarding the main questions of the study, first, the researchers found that state trait consistency did not have much to do with experienced authenticity. While on the one hand we might expect that kind of personality consistency to be connected to authenticity, on the other hand, many of us can’t help but think about whether our activities and decisions are consistent with who we are, what we want, or why. We do what we do. Being aware of where the experience of authenticity comes from is critically important for accurate self-assessment.
Second, they found that throughout the day, positive feelings, good self-esteem, and happiness were the dominant predictors of reports of experienced authenticity. As the various indicators of happiness, self-esteem, positive emotion, absence of negative emotion, etc. increased, there were considerable jumps in the reported experience of authenticity. This was true even after controlling for situational factors and other variables. Feeling authentic was associated with feeling good.
Authenticity is hedonic
This aspect of feeling good about being real is rooted in social forces, as a large component of feeling good in everyday interactions for study participants (and people in general) involved getting along with others, working well together and enjoy community activities. This facilitates teamwork and group cohesion, although taking it too far leads to social conformity. Is it more authentic to express your personality faithfully, in every situation at the expense, potentially, of social function? Or is it more authentic to pursue higher-order goals, to get along with others and be more successful, but perhaps risking not being true to oneself, and even going another way?
Finally, how do personality fluctuations (states) correlate with experienced authenticity? Greater emotional variability, characteristic of neurotic personality, was associated with less experienced authenticity, both for the individual over time and for the entire group. This finding resonates with the familiar neurotic concern that one cannot be oneself, that one is an imposter, perhaps, or at least one is making moves or pretending to some extent, even deceiving oneself and others. Having trouble dealing with emotions interferes with setting and achieving goals, making it harder to be happy and experience self-confidence, and as this research suggests, prevents one from feeling authentic by blocking feeling good. .
What stable personality factors were related to greater authentic experience?
Honesty/humility, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness had significant positive correlations with experienced authenticity. These factors fit the theory, because they are all prosocial factors, which lubricate the social gears, allow for greater industry and capacity for effective work, or allow for a greater variety of creative thinking, all of which contribute to greater happiness and self-esteem. . Furthermore, as the study’s authors point out, other aspects of personality, such as morality, are related to authenticity. In this study, honesty/humility reflects the positive correlation of moral behavior with authenticity. However, happiness still had a much greater statistical weight than any personality factor.
However, this does not mean that personality is not important, as life is sometimes not linear, a small difference at the right time can alter the course of our lives, and small effects over time can become a snowball. But if these actions don’t lead to happiness and self-esteem, they’re less likely to make you feel especially authentic. Being able to pivot, adapting personality as needed without compromising, makes sense.
There were other notable findings. Situational factors were significant, but also played a relatively small role. The experience of authenticity decreased in situations of adversity, negativity, or deception, and increased in situations characterized by positivity. Future research is needed to see how many situational factors were important regardless of the effect on happiness, and how objective measures of personality relate to authenticity, among other things.
What does authenticity have to do with personal development?
This research highlights how important and yet how misunderstood authenticity is. If being authentic doesn’t mean behaving in a way consistent with one’s personality, what does it mean? Sacrificing long-term goals for short-term personality consistency may seem more authentic, and doing something different against one’s values may be counterproductive.
How we take it also depends on our personal beliefs and propensities. During periods of relative contentment, happiness and authenticity should go together. During times when change is needed or occurs, what is…