How Can We Know Other People’s “True Selves”?

Summary: Researchers find evidence of a strong link between morality and identity.

Source: Texas A&M.

How can you ever really know someone? Researchers at Texas A&M University found our perceived knowledge of others’ “true selves” is inherently tied to perceptions of their morality.

“We found evidence consistent with a strong psychological link between morality and identity,” says Andrew Christy, a researcher in Texas A&M’s Department of Psychology who specializes in social and personality psychology.

For “The Reciprocal Relationship Between Perceptions of Moral Goodness and Knowledge of Others’ True Selves,” published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, Christy and his co-authors hypothesized that people would report knowing the most about others who were portrayed as morally good. A secondary hypothesis was that this effect would work both ways, such that others who were described as being easily knowable would also be perceived as more moral than those described as being unknowable.

The researchers presented participants with texts describing a person’s morality and competency, then asked them to measure how well they thought they knew the person’s “true self.” In another study, participants read a passage in which the author describes their roommate as either being readily knowable or almost completely unknowable. Afterwards they answered questions about their impressions of the target, including how moral vs. immoral they perceived the target to be.

Image shows a group of people.
The researchers presented participants with texts describing a person’s morality and competency, then asked them to measure how well they thought they knew the person’s “true self.” NeuroscienceNews.com image is adapted from the Texas A&M news release.

The researchers found a strong psychological link between morality and identity. “We found that participants reported knowing the most about targets when they were described as moral, compared to targets described in different ways (e.g. competent),” explains Christy. “Our results also suggested that this is a bidirectional relationship – participants perceived the knowable target as more moral than the unknowable target.”

Christy says these findings show that most people operate on the default assumption that others are fundamentally good. “Thus when someone is kind to us or otherwise provides evidence of goodness, this effectively confirms our pre-existing assumptions about them and leads us to feel that we really do know them.”

So when it comes to friendships and other relationships, he concludes, “people will feel most familiar with others who make morally good first impressions.”

About this neuroscience research article

Source: Lesley Henton – Texas A&M
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is adapted from the Texas A&M news release.
Original Research: Abstract for “The Reciprocal Relationship Between Perceptions of Moral Goodness and Knowledge of Others’ True Selves” by Andrew G. Christy, Jinhyung Kim, Matthew Vess, Rebecca J. Schlegel, and Joshua A. Hicks in Social Psychological and Personality Science. Published online March 13 2017 doi:10.1177/1948550617693061

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]Texas A&M “How Can We Know Other People’s “True Selves”?.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 21 April 2017.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/true-self-psychology-6478/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]Texas A&M (2017, April 21). How Can We Know Other People’s “True Selves”?e. NeuroscienceNew. Retrieved April 21, 2017 from https://neurosciencenews.com/true-self-psychology-6478/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]Texas A&M “How Can We Know Other People’s “True Selves”?.” https://neurosciencenews.com/true-self-psychology-6478/ (accessed April 21, 2017).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]


Abstract

The Reciprocal Relationship Between Perceptions of Moral Goodness and Knowledge of Others’ True Selves

The idea of true selves is widespread in folk psychology. Most research on this topic has focused on the precursors to and consequences of feeling that one knows or is expressing one’s own true self. As such, little is known about the conditions under which people feel like they know the true selves of others. In five studies (total N = 815), we tested and found support for the hypothesis that moral information is inherently tied to perceived knowledge of others’ true selves. Across all studies, using both descriptive texts (Studies 1–3) and computer-generated faces as stimuli (Studies 4 and 5), participants felt that they knew more about the true selves of highly moral targets relative to other targets and, conversely, believed the targets possessed more moral traits when they felt that they knew the individual’s true self.

“The Reciprocal Relationship Between Perceptions of Moral Goodness and Knowledge of Others’ True Selves” by Andrew G. Christy, Jinhyung Kim, Matthew Vess, Rebecca J. Schlegel, and Joshua A. Hicks in Social Psychological and Personality Science. Published online March 13 2017 doi:10.1177/1948550617693061

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