Relational Self-verification through Self-presentation: Implications for Perceptions of One's Honesty and Authenticity

When a significant-other representation is activated, the goal to be known and understood by othersthat is, self-verifiedis automatically elicited, leading people to desire appraisals from others that verify their pre-existing relational self-conceptions (Kraus & Chen, 2009). The present study tested whether activating a significant-other representation would lead people to engage in behaviors designed to obtain self-verificationnamely, presenting themselves in a self-verifying manner to others. Relative to their self-descriptions for a control website, when presenting themselves on a website focused on significant-other relationships participants were more likely to describe themselves in a manner consistent with how they had previously described their relational self. Moreover, participants' self-descriptions for the significant-other website, relative to the control website, were rated higher in honesty and authenticity by independent judges. Long-term consequences of pursuing self-verification goals for the relational self and for one's honesty and authenticity are discussed.