Authentic for Thee But Not for Me: Perceived Authenticity in Self-Control Conflicts. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Is self-control authentic? Across several hypothetical scenarios, participants perceived impulsive actions as more authentic for others (Study 1a) but self-control as more authentic for themselves (Study 1b). Study 2 partially replicated this asymmetry. Study 3 accounted for behavior positivity because self-control was typically the more positive action in the previous studies. Study 4 minimized the influence of positivity by framing the same behaviors as either impulsive or controlled; impulsive actions were deemed more authentic than self-control, but only for other people. An internal meta-analysis controlling for behavior positivity revealed that (a) more positive behaviors are more authentic, and (b) impulsive actions are more authentic than self-controlled actions, especially for others. This actor-observer asymmetry suggests that, even in the face of a strong tendency to perceive positive actions as authentic, there exists a competing tendency to view others' impulsive actions as more authentic than self-control.

published proceedings

  • Pers Soc Psychol Bull

altmetric score

  • 22.28

author list (cited authors)

  • Garrison, K. E., Rivera, G. N., Schlegel, R. J., Hicks, J. A., & Schmeichel, B. J.

citation count

  • 0

complete list of authors

  • Garrison, Katie E||Rivera, Grace N||Schlegel, Rebecca J||Hicks, Joshua A||Schmeichel, Brandon J

publication date

  • December 2023