Citation

Zhang JW, Chen S, Tomova TK, Bilgin B, Chai WJ, Ramis T, Shaban-Azad H, Razavi P, Nutankumar T, Manukyan A. Person. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 2019; 45(9): 1323-1337.

Affiliation

University of California, Berkeley, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0146167218820914

PMID

30658553

Abstract

Theory and research converge to suggest that authenticity predicts positive psychological adjustment. Given these benefits of authenticity, there is a surprising dearth of research on the factors that foster authenticity. Five studies help fill this gap by testing whether self-compassion promotes subjective authenticity. Study 1 found a positive association between trait self-compassion and authenticity. Study 2 demonstrated that on days when people felt more self-compassionate, they also felt more authentic. Study 3 discovered that people experimentally induced to be self-compassionate reported greater state authenticity relative to control participants. Studies 4 and 5 recruited samples from multiple cultures and used a cross-sectional and a longitudinal design, respectively, and found that self-compassion predicts greater authenticity through reduced fear of negative evaluation (Study 4) and heightened optimism (Study 5). Across studies, self-compassion's effects on authenticity could not be accounted for by self-esteem. Overall, the results suggest that self-compassion can help cultivate subjective authenticity.

Language: en

Keywords

authenticity; fear of negative evaluation; optimism; self-compassion; self-esteem