Essentialist beliefs about the self predict psychological well-being

ABSTRACT

The current studies tested whether self-essentialist beliefs (SEBs; that is, believing one’s identity is defined by enduring, inherent properties) enhance self-perceptions and psychological well-being. In Studies 1A (n = 208) and 1B (n = 305), we found that SEBs predicted self-perceptions and well-being, even with related variables controlled. Study 2 (n = 129) replicated and extended these findings in a short longitudinal design. In Studies 3A (n = 488), 3B (n = 404), 4 (n = 232), and 5 (n = 390), we manipulated SEBs and tested for effects on self-perceptions and well-being. Our manipulations successfully influenced SEBs, but generally did not directly affect self-perceptions and well-being. However, we consistently found indirect effects of the manipulations (via manipulation-check measures) in the predicted directions.

KEYWORDS:

• essentialism
• well-being
• self-concept
• lay theories
• authenticity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data from Studies 1A and 1B was used previously in Christy et al. (2019). All analyses of these data reported here have not been previously reported. Study materials, data, analysis code, and links to the pre-registrations of Studies 3B and 5 are available on OSF at https://osf.io/j8kwn/.

Supplementary data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2024.2336940

Notes

1. We use the term true-self beliefs here and elsewhere to refer to the full range of beliefs people hold about true selves, including the general belief that a true self exists within each person as well as more specific beliefs about the nature of true selves (e.g., the seemingly widespread belief that true selves are morally good). We use the phrase belief in true selves to refer specifically to the ontological belief that true selves exist/are real.

2. The term subjective self-knowledge refers to the degree of knowledge a person feels they possess about themselves, whereas self-certainty refers to how metacognitively confident a person feels in their self-views or self-descriptions, and self-concept clarity refers to how metacognitively clear (as opposed to vague) and internally consistent a person’s self-views are. Subjective self-knowledge is more global in scope and pertains to the self per se, whereas self-certainty and self-concept clarity pertain to people’s views of self and are thus somewhat narrower.

3. The results reported in this article are based on analyses with exclusion criteria applied (e.g., excluding data from participants who failed attention or comprehension checks). A summary of the results without exclusions applied can be found in the Supplemental Results section of our OSF page. These results were similar to those reported here, and the isolated differences observed did not substantially change the interpretation of the findings.

4. Due to an error in the randomization setup in Study 1B, one set of measures was omitted at random from the survey administered to each participant. Thus, the number of participants who completed each measure varies, and the number of participants included in analyses is always less than the full sample size.

5. Study 1A included a preliminary pool of 39 self-essentialism items, which was refined through factor analysis to yield the final 10-item version of the scale. Results reported for Studies 1A and 1B use the refined 10-item scale.

6. Belief in true selves and self-essentialist beliefs have considerable conceptual overlap; believing that each person possesses a true self amounts to believing that each person has an essential identity. However, we believe it is possible for people to hold essentialist beliefs about identity without endorsing the existence of true selves. Thus, by including BTS as a covariate, we sought to ensure that the relations of SEBs with the other variables are not limited to acceptance of a particular version of these beliefs (BTS) that happens to be culturally prominent.

7. Attention checks were instructional in nature, and simply required participants to select a designated point on the response scale (e.g., “For quality control purposes, please select ‘Disagree’ from the options provided.”). There were five attention-check items included in the intake survey, and three included in the follow-up survey. Participants who missed two or more attention checks on either occasion were excluded from analyses.

8. The race/ethnicity item in this study allowed participants to select as many groups as they identified with, resulting in a total greater than 100%.

9. Incremental validity analyses mirroring those reported in Studies 1A and 1B are also available on OSF in Table S5.

10. Unfortunately, self-esteem was not measured in Studies 3A and 3B. At the time these studies were conducted, we had not yet considered the potential for SEBs to promote self-esteem, so these studies only tested how the SEB manipulation influenced well-being, self-expression/authenticity, and self-knowledge.

11. A chi-square test indicated that the attrition/exclusion rate did not differ between the two experimental conditions, and t tests performed on variables measured at intake indicated that participants in the final sample generally did not differ from those who were excluded (the one exception being authentic living, on which excluded participants scored slightly lower on average than included participants).

12. As in Study 2, the race/ethnicity item in Study 4 allowed participants to select as many groups as they identified with, resulting in a total greater than 100%.

13. An exploratory two-way MANOVA also examined whether the experimental conditions interacted with the number of morning reflection exercises participants completed to influence the outcomes. No interactions between these two variables were found. Full output for this analysis is available on OSF.

14. These values total to more than 100% because the race/ethnicity item allowed participants to select as many options as applied to them.

15. We conducted additional analyses evaluating SEBs’ empirical distinguishability from self-concept clarity (SCC) and self-alienation/self-knowledge. SEBs were found to correlate modestly with SCC (r = .30), and factor analyses (details of which can be found on OSF) indicated that SEB items loaded on different factors than both SCC and self-alienation items.

16. This measure was included in this study based on research indicating that people tend to perceive their own and others’ true selves as morally good (e.g., Christy et al., 2016; De Freitas et al., 2018; Newman et al., 2014, 2015).

17. For studies that included multiple measurement points (i.e., Studies 2 and 4), the SEB score from the earliest measurement point was always used to compute correlations with each outcome variable. Multiple correlations for the same outcome were computed in studies that included multiple measurements (e.g., Study 4 yielded three correlations between SEBs and presence of meaning in life: one with the intake measure of meaning, one with the average daily-diary composite measure of meaning, and one with the follow-up measure of meaning).