Authenticity Scale

Assignment Instructions

1. Answer the authenticity scale and discuss the implications of your score to your personal life—particularly about how this scale contributes to your self knowledge.
2. Read the attached article and share your reaction towards the main points raised by the author
   1. Should people strive for authenticity?
   2. Do you think authenticity is achievable?
3. Submit your reflection paper in any of these formats: .doc, .docx., .pdf

Test Results

1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Does not describe me at all						Describes me perfectly

Score	Thought
6	1. I think it is better to be yourself, than to be popular
7	2. I don’t know how I really feel inside
6	3. I am strongly influenced by the opinions of others
4	4. I usually do what other people tell me to do
6	5. I always feel I need to do what others expect me to do
6	6. Other people influence me greatly
7	7. I feel as if I don’t know myself very well
3	8. I always stand by what I believe in
2	9. I am true to myself in most situations
6	10. I feel out of touch with the real me
3	11. I live in accordance with my values and beliefs
5	12. I feel alienated from myself

Subscale	My Total
Self-Alienation	19
Authentic Living	14
Accepting External Influence	22

The Limits of Authenticity

Notable Points

Common view

• Common view of being authentic
  • Being true and honest with oneself and others
  • Having a credibility in one’s words and behavior
• Being authentic entails:
  • freedom
  • discovery of the truth
  • fulfillment in life.
• The unique nature of each individual is best seen not in who he is, but in who he becomes, and becoming authentic is a continuous process, not an event.
• It involves not just knowing oneself, but also recognizing others and the mutual influence between individuals

Philosopher’s Views

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) argued that
  • our personal authenticity is diminished because of our need to respect others due to societies that emphasizes hierarchy, inequality, and interdependence.
  • authenticity is derived from the natural self, whereas inauthenticity is a result of external influences.
• Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) claims that
  • one can only truly be authentic by being conscious of their inevitable death
  • authenticity and inauthenticity are basic forms of being in the world, thereby being inseparable from each other; they are complementary and interdependent
• Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-80) contends that
  • there is no such thing us inherent traits: we have comple control of our nature and decisions (basically implying that free will exists). ¹
  • authenticity requires taking full responsibility for our life, choices and actions. Therefore, the anxiety or ‘angst’ which results from our realization of our own inescapable freedom is an integral part of authentic living.
  • it should be emphasized that the individual’s freedom is constrained by nature and society, as well as by their own limitations – what Sartre called their ‘facticity’.
• Albert Camus (1913-60) states that
  • To be authentic, one must be aware of the absurdity of a world with no objective morality and purpose, and create meaning in life through rebellion against the absurdity

Qualifications for the Concept of Authenticity

• Authenticity can never be absolute, thereby the search for its absolute version is a fruitless endeavor.
  • The self is always changing so absolute authenticity can only last shortly
  • Attaining authenticity involves continuous re-evaluation of of ideals and principles through self-examination and social-interaction
• If authenticity is advertised, then it is a mere display of it, instead of a genuine one
• It is not ideal to display one’s true feelings in some circumstances; thus, it is important to distinguish between internal vs external authenticity
• Other important components necessary for authenticity require the capacity for the following:
  • unbiased self-examination resulting to accurate self-knowledge
  • reflective judgement
  • personal responsibility
  • humility
  • empathy for others
  • willingness to listen to criticism
• Authenticity is made complicated by the presence of
  • illusions
  • biases
  • and wishful thinking

Paradoxes of Authenticity

• Authenticity is achieved by immersing in the outside world but not by letting it control you
• Authenticity can only be achieved by immersing oneself in uncertainty but, at the same time, being uncertain entails that you are also uncertain of your own self.
• Objective self-examination requires no biases despite biases being intrinsic in our nature
• True self-knowledge should account for the self-doubt and insecurity that exists after a difficult circumstance
• We have an inaccurate depiction of authenticity because we are not fully aware of all the facts, resulting to us filling in the gaps with our own thoughts and observed facts

Insights

• Learning how to be authentic for the sake of self-fulfillment is an individualist and ego-based goal—as opposed to learning it to understand how your authenticity affects others, which is a more altruistic goal
• Authenticity comes from within; whereas, inauthenticity comes from exposure to our social and cultural environment
• Authenticity exists because inauthenticity exists, just like how darkness can’t exist without light and vice versa (authenticity and inauthenticity are mutually dependent concepts)
• Personal authenticity is always changing and is never fixed (there is no core-self)
• Authenticity is a human construct
• Authenticity is not fixed and absolute. It is a continuous process that develops through experience (with inter- and intra- personal criticism). Authenticity can only be partial, especially because our self-knowledge will never be complete due to the limits of what our conscious mind knows.
  • We interpret our interpretations of reality instead of directly interpreting reality itself. Our understanding of our experiences keeps getting changed as new information arrives.
• Finding oneself is difficult because of the possession of multiple identities depending on the role they have to play in society—social, cultural, political, national, and religious.
• Our thoughts are restricted by our language, and that language itself does not accurately correspond with our experiences, often being ambiguous.
• The value of authenticity is understanding your self-development and not your self, because the self is constantly changing so it is something we’ll never truly understand.
• Inauthentic compromise and conformity to expectations occurs hindering one’s capacity to understand authenticity
• Hiding vulnerabilities diminish authenticity
• Technology blurs the line between reality and deceiving representations of reality
• We never approach self-authenticity, we can only get close to it

Essay Response Outline

What is the implication of the authenticity scale results to your personal life and self-knowledge?

• I am alienated from my true self
• I am inauthentic
• I am heavily influenced by the expectations of others

Should people strive for authenticity?

• Yes because
  • it leads to freedom
  • it creates meaning in life
  • it improves growth, makes life fulfilling, and also helps others

Do you think authenticity is achievable?

• Absolute authenticity is impossible because of
  • limitations of knowledge
  • limitations of language
  • plurality of identity
  • the need to conform to social expectations
  • technology
  • evolution of self

Sources

1. Alex Mathew Wood, P. Alex Linley, John Maltby, Journal of Counseling Psychology, “The Authentic Personality: A Theoretical and Empirical Conceptualization and the Development of the Authenticity Scale” - 2008-07
2. Ben G. Yacobi, Philosophy Now, “The Limits of Authenticity” - 2012

Footnotes

1. Mental illness exists? how can we say they are completely free? ↩