08 Nov New psychology research uncovers a core feature of authenticity
To be honest, I’m not really sure how “new” these findings are.
Authenticity has been studied and valued for many decades; and has, for quite some time now, been considered a core component of good mental health, positive psychological wellbeing, happiness and more.
That being said, there are always new intricacies being uncovered or discovered around even the most well researched constructs so for those of you who’re interested in all things related to happiness, human behaviour, relationships and more then …
via PsyPost by Vladimir Hedrih
A new series of nine studies proposes that realness, the propensity to act in accordance with how one feels regardless of consequences, may be a distinct psychological trait. The study was published in the Journal of Research in Personality.
Being real means behaving on the outside the way one feels on the inside, without regard for personal or social consequences. It stands in contrast to “being fake” and this distinction becomes particularly important in a world, as authors state, “awash in ‘fake news’,” where “citizens are routinely manipulated by politicians who do not mean what they say” and where “social media platforms incentivize virtue signaling and punish straightforwardness.”
In the studies of individual differences, realness has been linked to psychological health and regarded as a principal outcome of healthy development and effective psychotherapy. Personality researchers distinguish between the true vs. false self, considering the former a manifestation of a healthy personality.
Realness also has its downsides. These downsides are the primary reason why people often censor what they say or how they behave. People often regret having revealed how they truly feel during particularly emotional moments and social tact often involves holding back in situations when revealing true emotions would be inconsiderate or inappropriate. In the political sphere, realness can sometimes garner support, but also sow divisions at a broader level. But, is realness something that varies within the same individual over time or a lasting and stable behavioral tendency?
In order to answer this question, professor Dr. Christopher J. Hopwood and his colleagues devised and conducted a series of nine studies that included large samples of undergraduate students, MTurk workers and a smaller sample from the general population of Germany. They aimed to study various aspects of realness, including its relationship to other psychological traits such as authenticity and basic personality traits, its temporal stability, whether it can be observed in dyadic behavior, and whether it can predict responses of a person in situations that bear potential personal or social costs…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE