Journal
JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 96, Issue 2, Pages 473-490Publisher
AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC
DOI: 10.1037/a0014060
Keywords
true self; meaning in life; cognitive accessibility; self-concept
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Funding
- NIAAA NIH HHS [T32 AA013526, T32-AA13526] Funding Source: Medline
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A number of philosophical and psychological theories suggest the true self is an important contributor to well-being. The present research examined whether the cognitive accessibility of the true self-concept would predict the experience of meaning in life. To ensure that any observed effects were due to the true self-concept rather than to the self-concept more generally, the authors used actual self-concept accessibility as a control variable in all studies. True and actual self-concepts were defined as including those traits that are enacted around close others vs. most others (Studies I through 3) or as traits that refer to who you really are vs. who you tire during most of your activities (Studies 4 and 5), respectively. Studies 1, 2, and 4 showed that individual differences in true self-concept accessibility, but not differences in actual self-concept accessibility, predicted meaning in life. Studies 3 and 5 showed that priming traits related to the true self-concept enhanced perceptions of meaning in life. Implications for the study of the true self-concept and authenticity are discussed.
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