Research on authenticity frequently invokes notions of true self, but is there such thing? The question must be answered twice, given frequent confusion and conflation of self with self-concept. Summarizing and integrating themes from authenticity research as evident in this special issue, I draw these conclusions. True self-concepts are more plausible than genuinely true selves, if the latter are independent entities distinct from actual behavior and experience. Yet rather than a single true self-concept, people have multiple nonfalse ones, none of which is entirely true. Among these, the pragmatically most important is the desired reputation, given the social-cultural orientation of humankind. Desired reputation is more a guide and goal than a reality, but successes and failures at achieving that reputation will produce welcome and unwelcome feelings that are likely reported as feeling authentic and inauthentic (respectively). Understanding authenticity in this way solves some of the perennial problems that beset research and theory on authenticity, especially positive distortion and external rather than internal orientation.

中文翻译：

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通过真实性丛林追踪真实的自我：问题，矛盾，矛盾，令人不安的发现以及可能的前进之路

关于真实性的研究经常引用真实自我的概念，但是有这样的事情吗？考虑到自我与自我概念的频繁混淆和混淆，这个问题必须回答两次。总结和整合真实性研究中的主题（如本期特刊所述），我得出了这些结论。如果真实的自我概念是与实际行为和经验不同的独立实体，那么真实的自我概念比真实的自我更容易接受。然而，人们有多个非虚假​​的人，而不是一个单一的真实的自我概念，没有一个是完全真实的。其中，考虑到人类的社会文化取向，实用上最重要的是期望的声誉。理想的声誉比现实更是指导和目标，但是获得该声誉的成功和失败会产生欢迎和不受欢迎的感觉，这些感觉可能分别被报告为真实和不真实。通过这种方式了解真实性，可以解决困扰真实性研究和理论的一些常年性问题，尤其是积极的歪曲和外部而非内部取向。