The true self and existential structure? Unexpected effects of mortality salience and personal need for structure on belief in a true self

Christy, Andrew G.; Sanders, Courtney S.; Vess, Matthew; Routledge, Clay; Schlegel, Rebecca J.

doi:10.1080/15298868.2016.1269669

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…From an empirical perspective, studies have found that acting in accordance with core aspects of the self relate to increased meaning in life (e.g., Christy et al, 2019; Dulaney et al, 2019; McGregor & Little, 1998; Schlegel et al, 2012). Other research has found that activating thoughts about and the feeling of knowing one’s “true self,” or who one really is, lead to the subjective experience of meaning in life, as does a sense of clarity in one’s self-concept (Bigler et al, 2001; Christy et al, 2017; Ritchie et al, 2011; Schlegel et al, 2009, 2011, 2012; Shin et al, 2016). Still another line of work on self-projection, or the process of “mentally transcending the ‘here-and-now’ to occupy psychologically a different time (past or future), a different place, a different person’s subjective experience, or a hypothetical reality,” has been found to lead to feelings of meaning in life (Waytz et al, 2015, p. 336).…”

Section: The Self-concept and Meaning In Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

Perceiving a Stable Self-Concept Enables the Experience of Meaning in Life

Chu

Lowery

2023

Pers Soc Psychol Bull

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We test the hypothesis that the perception of stability in one’s self-concept (i.e., future self-continuity) enables the experience of meaning in life because perceiving a stable sense of self confers a sense of certainty to the self-concept. Study 1 provided initial evidence of the influence of future self-continuity on feelings of meaning in life (MIL) in a nationally representative sample. In Studies 2a and 2b, we manipulated future self-continuity by varying the expectedness of one’s future self, demonstrating the causal influence of future self-continuity on self-certainty and feelings of MIL. Study 3 again manipulated future self-continuity, finding an indirect effect on feelings of meaning in life via self-certainty. Our findings thus suggest the experience of meaning in life arises from the perception of a stable sense of self. We discuss the implications for the antecedents and conceptualization of MIL as well as the nature of the self-concept.

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Section: The Self-concept and Meaning In Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

Perceiving a Stable Self-Concept Enables the Experience of Meaning in Life

Chu

Lowery

2023

Pers Soc Psychol Bull

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“…Participants reliably rate targets who change for the better as expressing their true selves more than targets who change for the worse (Bench et al, 2015; Newman et al, 2014), and this bias is observed cross-culturally and even among misanthropes (i.e., people who explicitly endorse beliefs that people are generally bad; De Freitas et al, 2018). Simply observing incidental information (e.g., facial features) about a person’s moral goodness, relative to their moral badness, can lead people to feel that they know that person’s true self better (Christy et al, 2017).…”

Section: Lay Reasoning About True Selvesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of True Self-Attributions on the Endorsement of Retributive and Restorative Justice

Maffly-Kipp

Rivera

Schlegel

2021

Pers Soc Psychol Bull

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We examined how the attribution of criminal behavior to an individual’s “true” self influences justice preferences. In Study 1 ( N = 521), the extent to which undergraduates attributed a crime to a target’s true self positively predicted their endorsement of a retributive form of punishment and negatively predicted their endorsement of a restorative form of punishment. Study 2 ( N = 404) was preregistered and replicated these associations, even when controlling for other perceived causes (e.g., personality, environment). In Study 3 ( N = 282), undergraduates rated retributive punishment more favorably and restorative punishment less favorably when induced to think that the crime was (vs. was not) reflective of the target’s true self. Study 4 ( N = 935) was preregistered and replicated these experimental effects across different types of crime vignettes in an online sample. These results highlight the ways that intuitions about “true” selves shape punishment preferences.

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“…Four attention check items were embedded throughout the study (one in the first part of the study and three in the second part). As in Study 6, participants failing two or more of 8 Although the SEB and BTS scales were our primary dependent measures in this study, we also included an exploratory essay-based measure (first used by Christy, Sanders, Vess, Routledge, & Schlegel, 2017) in which participants read an essay expressing disbelief in true selves and reported their attitudes towards the essay's author. Given the dissimilarity between the essay measure and the other dependent measures, we opted not to include results for the essay measure in this report.…”

Section: Manipulation Of Essentialist Beliefs About Gendermentioning

confidence: 99%

Why do people believe in a “true self”? The role of essentialist reasoning about personal identity and the self.

Christy

Schlegel

Cimpian

2019

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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Why do many people come to believe that they and others have a true self? We hypothesized that this belief emerges because people routinely rely on essentialist reasoning to understand personal identity and the self. Across eight studies, we found that (a) the features that participants attributed to the true self resembled the features typically attributed to essences (e.g., immutability, informativeness, inherence; Studies 1–4); (b) endorsement of belief in true selves correlated with endorsement of other essentialist beliefs (Study 5); and (c) experimental manipulations of essentialist beliefs in domains other than the self spilled over and affected participants’ endorsement of belief in true selves (Studies 6–8). These findings advance theory on the origins and functions of beliefs about the true self, suggesting that these beliefs are, in part, a specific downstream consequence of the broader tendency to explain phenomena in the world in terms of underlying essences.

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The true self and existential structure? Unexpected effects of mortality salience and personal need for structure on belief in a true self

Cited by 7 publications

References 57 publications

Perceiving a Stable Self-Concept Enables the Experience of Meaning in Life

Perceiving a Stable Self-Concept Enables the Experience of Meaning in Life

The Effect of True Self-Attributions on the Endorsement of Retributive and Restorative Justice

Why do people believe in a “true self”? The role of essentialist reasoning about personal identity and the self.

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