title: I feel good, therefore I am real: testing the causal influence of mood on state authenticity.
abstract: Although the literature has focused on individual differences in authenticity, recent findings suggest that authenticity is sensitive to context; that is, it is also a state. We extended this perspective by examining whether incidental affect influences authenticity. In three experiments, participants felt more authentic when in a relatively positive than negative mood. The causal role of affect in authenticity was consistent across a diverse set of mood inductions, including explicit (Experiments 1 and 3) and implicit (Experiment 2) methods. The link between incidental affect and state authenticity was not moderated by ability to down-regulate negative affect (Experiments 1 and 3) nor was it explained by negative mood increasing private self-consciousness or decreasing access to the self system (Experiment 3). The results indicate that mood is used as information to assess one's sense of authenticity.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of Edinburgh , Edinburgh , UK.
authors.forename: Alison P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Lenton
authors.forename: Letitia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Slabu
authors.forename: Constantine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sedikides
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Power
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D004532:Ego; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012647:Self-Assessment