Authenticity Affordances as Social and Health-Related Cues: Associations With Self-Esteem

Behaving authentically can be considered a privilege of the powerful, because acting in accordance with one’s subjectively true nature can entail overcoming situational constraints and expecting others to see one as a unique person worthy of individuating. People high in self-esteem tend to hold their own personal characteristics in relatively high regard; accordingly, people high in self-esteem may be posited not only to perceive social situations as opportunities to behave authentically but also to misapply the value of authenticity to objectively unrelated outcomes. Mixed-level observational data from three studies yielded results consistent with that theoretical account, and data from a fourth study documented a positive association between self-esteem and reported willingness to self-disclose to others, which previous research has found to be an effective means of fostering authentic social interactions. The third and fourth studies also yielded findings consistent with a phenomenon we term lay organismic valuation, whereby people evaluate behaviors they judge to be authentic to their self-concept to hold greater health benefits than other behaviors, and the lay-organismic pattern was stronger for people higher in self-esteem. Together, these findings indicate that self-esteem relates positively to perceiving opportunities to behave authentically within social situations and to linking the value of authenticity to broader health outcomes beyond social situations. Reflecting a total N of 1182 participants across the four studies, each with preregistered analysis plans, implications of these associations for research on social relationships and value misattribution are discussed.