Is “be yourself” always the best advice? We suggest that interpersonal consequences of behaving authentically depend on the extent to which individuals identify with the social environment where they behave authentically. Bridging the research on authenticity, social identity, and conflict, we propose that for high identifiers, authentic behavior reveals how similar they are to others, thereby reducing dyadic relationship conflict. When social identification is low, behaving authentically increases the salience of how different the individual is from others, increasing relationship conflict. In a multi-source time-lag sample of professional work teams (Study 1), we found that authentic behavior indeed reduced relationship conflict and enhanced task performance for high identifiers, but had an inverse, detrimental effect for low identifiers. In a sample of student teams (Study 2), we only found an attenuating effect of authentic behavior on relationship conflict for high identifiers, and no effect for low identifiers. These results suggest that the advice “to be yourself” applies in educational contexts involving younger adults, but has to be prescribed with care in professional work contexts. Our findings emphasize the importance of social context for the consequences of authentic behavior and call for more research on the contextual effects of authenticity.

“做你自己”总是最好的建议吗？我们认为，真实行为的人际后果取决于个人对他们真实行为所在的社会环境的认同程度。将真实性、社会认同和冲突的研究联系起来，我们提出，对于高标识符，真实行为揭示了他们与其他人的相似程度，从而减少二元关系冲突。当社会认同度较低时，真实的行为会增加个人与他人不同的显着性，从而增加关系冲突。在专业工作团队的多源时滞样本（研究 1）中，我们发现真实行为确实减少了高标识符的关系冲突并提高了任务绩效，但对低标识符具有相反的不利影响。在学生团队的样本（研究 2）中，我们只发现真实行为对高标识符的关系冲突有减弱的影响，而对低标识符没有影响。这些结果表明，“做你自己”的建议适用于涉及年轻人的教育环境，但在专业工作环境中必须谨慎使用。我们的研究结果强调了社会背景对真实行为后果的重要性，并呼吁对真实性的背景影响进行更多研究。但必须在专业工作环境中谨慎使用。我们的研究结果强调了社会背景对真实行为后果的重要性，并呼吁对真实性的背景影响进行更多研究。但必须在专业工作环境中谨慎使用。我们的研究结果强调了社会背景对真实行为后果的重要性，并呼吁对真实性的背景影响进行更多研究。