This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: So, you're a people pleaser? Perhaps you're an introvert or an extrovert.
Maybe you're an academic or a bartender. A chef, doctor or entrepreneur. Maybe your favorite pastime is playing a musical instrument or going on a hike.
Regardless of our labels, professions, relationships, hobbies or even personal values, we constantly adjust how we think, feel and behave to fit how we see ourselves and how we believe others see us, all in the lifelong—and messy—pursuit of finding our "true" self. Still, an important question remains: Who are you, really? And what, exactly, makes something feel like you?
Two psychology papers, published 15 years apart in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and co-authored by psychology professor Dr. Rebecca Schlegel at Texas A&M University's College of Arts and Sciences, offer a surprising clue. Our feeling of a true self, Schlegel's more than decade-long research suggests, may be shaped by how easy and natural an experience feels.
Those experiences, in turn, could reinforce the habits, goals and values we associate with ourselves, connecting us to a greater sense of well-being and meaning in life. "Our true self may not be something we simply discover within ourselves; it may also be something we construct from what feels natural and easy," said Schlegel, a professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at Texas A&M University's College of Arts and Sciences. We tend to think of our true self as a sort of buried treasure, waiting to be discovered beneath layers of expectations, obligations and social masks.
And what if the answer to Alice's famous question in Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland"—"Who in the world am I?"—isn't "Ah, that's the great puzzle!"? Schlegel's new research suggests that knowing our true self may begin with something far simpler: fluency. "Fluency is the subjective experience or feeling of ease when carrying out perceptual, cognitive and behavioral tasks," Schlegel said.
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