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Thine own self: True self-concept accessibility and meaning in life
Open accessAbstract
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 1 through 3) or as traits that refer to "who you really are" vs. "who you are 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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Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Schlegel, R. J., Hicks, J. A., Arndt, J., & King, L. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Missouri (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 2009
- Volume
- 96
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 473-490
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- PMC
- PMC4714566
- OpenAlex
- W1974054520
- Cited by
- 367
- References
- 78
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 35 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 26 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 14.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (T32-AA13526)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Keywords
- meaning in life, authenticity, well-being, close relationships, self-perception
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Cognition, Existentialism, Female, Humans, Male, Self Concept, Young Adult
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