Measuring Authenticity
The psychometrics of authenticity
I have been reflecting on authenticity in my life recently.
I thought I’d look into the science about it, rather than finding inspiration from the life of Harald Sigurdsson, Viking King of Norway, today :-)
First step is measuring it. Here are two scales below. The second scale is strongly recommended.
The Authenticity Scale
Drawing on existing literature, particularly from person-centered psychology, the authors of this article validate a tripartite definition of authenticity encompassing self-alienation, authentic living, and accepting external influence.
Try this test for yourself before reading on…. rate each question on this scale from 1 (does not describe me at all) to 7 (describes me very well). I would recommend scoring yourself when reflecting on important areas of your life related to your identity such as at work or in a relationship or friendship group. For authenticity, we may be more authentic with friends and less in a relationship, and different contexts could generate different responses in this test and the one below. For this reason, focus on what context or contexts are most important for you.
Numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, and 12 are reverse scored - so if you rated the question 7 that would be scored as a 1, and so on. You can see how to get scores for each of the three factors of authenticity in the ‘Scoring Instructions’ below.
Defining the Underlying Factors of Authenticity
Psychologists who have looked at defining and measuring authenticity, identify three underlying factors of authenticity:
Self-Alienation: This factor involves the degree to which an individual experiences a disconnect between their conscious awareness and their actual experiences, emotions, and beliefs. This discrepancy can lead to feelings of not knowing oneself or being out of touch with one's true self. Examples of self-alienation include:
Feeling unsure about one's values or beliefs.
Experiencing a disconnect between one's actions and one's true feelings.
Having difficulty identifying or expressing one's emotions.
Authentic Living: This factor centers around the congruence between an individual's consciously perceived experiences and their outward behaviour and emotional expression. Essentially, it involves living in a way that is consistent with one's true self, values, and beliefs. Examples of authentic living include:
Expressing one's opinions and beliefs, even when they are unpopular.
Acting in accordance with one's values, even when it is difficult.
Making choices that are true to oneself, even if they are not what others would choose.
Accepting External Influence: This factor explores the extent to which an individual allows external factors, such as the opinions and expectations of others, to influence their sense of self and their behaviour. While humans are inherently social beings, excessive reliance on external validation can hinder both self-alienation and authentic living. Examples of accepting external influence include:
Conforming to social norms or expectations, even when they conflict with one's own values.
Suppressing one's true opinions or beliefs to avoid disapproval from others.
Making choices based on what others think is best, rather than what one truly desires.
The sources explain that these three factors combine to form a tripartite, person-centered view of authenticity, with each factor holding equal importance. This model suggests that greater authenticity and well-being are achieved when individuals can minimise self-alienation, live authentically in accordance with their true selves, and moderate the influence of external pressures.
Findings
Self-Esteem: The study found a consistent positive correlation between all three subscales of the Authenticity Scale (Authentic Living, Accepting External Influence, and Self-Alienation) and self-esteem across four different samples. This finding aligns with theoretical perspectives suggesting that authenticity is linked to a positive self-regard - that is, self-esteem. Self-alienation was particularly strongly related to self-esteem.
Subjective Well-Being (SWB): The Authenticity Scale showed significant correlations with various indicators of SWB, including happiness, satisfaction with life, positive affect, and negative affect. These findings support the idea that authenticity contributes to overall well-being. Again, self-alienation had the strongest correlations.
Interpretation
The scales are not easy to interpret in standardised scores in the original article. One way of interpreting them is to compare the 3 types of authenticity scores - since there are 4 items for each. For instance, I scored 23 and 24 on two of them but 15 on another suggesting that dimension needs work in my life, relative to the other two. If you scored ‘neutral’ (4) for each item, you would score 16, which is another meaningful point of reference.
The Self-Authenticity Measure (SAM)
You could also try this more recently developed scale which measures two authenticity factors: knowing and being one’s self (internal self-authenticity) and being one’s self around others (external self-authenticity). The first factor (eight items) relates to understanding what one wants from life and knowing and being one’s self. The second factor (seven items) relates to being one’s self around and not compromising who one is for others.
Comparison With Others
For comparisons with others - the mean score in the general population is around 3.6 for the internal self-authenticity, and 3.25 for the external self-authenticity.
Note that unlike the first scale, these scores are based on averages.
References
Cartwright, T., Hulbert-Williams, L., Evans, G., & Hulbert-Williams, N. (2023). Measuring authentic living from internal and external perspectives: A novel measure of self-authenticity. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 8(1), 100698. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2023.100698
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. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.55.3.385