Authenticity

A research-backed map of how closely the life you live matches the person you feel you really are. Drawing on humanistic psychology, Alex Wood and colleagues' Authenticity Scale (2008) breaks authenticity into three measurable strands: authentic living — how far you act in line with your own values and beliefs; self-alienation — how in or out of touch you feel with the 'real you'; and accepting external influence — how readily you shape yourself around what others expect. The three vary independently, so you might live boldly by your values yet still feel only half in touch with yourself, or know yourself deeply while bending easily to others. This places you along each strand rather than judging you authentic or not — there is no wrong way to sit.

Empirical. The Authenticity Scale was developed and validated by Alex Wood and colleagues (2008), drawing on Carl Rogers's person-centred account of the fully functioning person and on Kernis and Goldman's (2006) multicomponent model of authenticity. Its twelve items load on three reliable factors — authentic living, self-alienation and accepting external influence — that together index how closely a person's outward life matches their inner experience. Higher authentic living together with lower self-alienation and lower acceptance of external influence is what the instrument scores as greater dispositional authenticity, a pattern that tends to go with higher well-being and self-esteem. The three strands describe how you relate to your true self, not your worth, and any profile across them is one honest way of living. (Authenticity Scale (Wood, Linley, Maltby, Baliousis & Joseph, 2008))

Dimensions

• Authentic living (Often out of step – True to your values) — Leaning high means you mostly act in line with your own values and beliefs, and stand by them even when it is awkward or unpopular. Leaning low means you more often set them aside to suit the moment, the room or what is expected of you.
• Self-alienation (In touch with yourself – Out of touch with yourself) — Leaning high means you often feel distant from the 'real me' — unsure what you genuinely feel or who you are underneath. Leaning low means you feel you know yourself well and recognise your own feelings as they arise. On the original scale, lower self-alienation is the more authentic pole.
• Accepting external influence (Self-directed – Guided by others) — Leaning high means you readily take on what other people think you should do or be, and are strongly swayed by their expectations. Leaning low means you steer by your own sense of yourself — taking others in, but not handing them the wheel.

References

• Wood, A. M., Linley, P. A., Maltby, J., Baliousis, M., & Joseph, S. (2008). The authentic personality: A theoretical and empirical conceptualization and the development of the Authenticity Scale. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 55(3), 385-399
• Kernis, M. H., & Goldman, B. M. (2006). A multicomponent conceptualization of authenticity: Theory and research. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 283-357

Related topics

• Spiral Dynamics (value systems)
• VIA Character Strengths
• Stage of moral reasoning
• What drives you (McClelland)
• Your appetite for risk
• Regulatory focus (Higgins)
• Core values (Schwartz)
• Gratitude (abundance, simple things & others)

All topics on ArtaQuest