Dispositional Traits Versus the Content of Experience: Actor/Observer Differences in Judgments of the "Authentic Self"

Abstract

This study investigated whether actors and observers differ in their beliefs about what features of an individual best reflect his/her "authentic self " Some subjects rated the extent to which both dispositional traits (e.g., the tendency to be adventurous or not adventurous) and the specific content of the activities, thoughts, and feelings that exemplified those traits (e.g., "the things you do for adventure") reflected their "authentic selves. " Others made the same judgments about affined. Self-raters believed that the specific contents of their experiences were better indicators of their "authentic selves" than were their general dispositions, but friend-raters believed that the "authentic selves" of their acquaintances were better reflected by their general dispositions. Female subjects, both self-raters and friend-raters, tended to believe that the contents of covert emotional experiences were better indicators of the "authentic self" than male subjects did.