Where does authenticity collide?

In existential philosophy, authenticity names a way of living in which a person owns their own existence and chooses in accord with their own possibilities, rather than drifting along with whatever the anonymous crowd expects. Heidegger's 1927 Being and Time used the German word eigentlichkeit, from eigen meaning one's own, and set it against a fallen absorption in what everyone does; Sartre and later Charles Taylor developed related pictures of a life true to itself. The referent is a mode of a person's whole existence, a stance a person takes toward their own being, not a rating people give a brand, a score on a personality questionnaire, or the physical genuineness of an object.[1]

Unit

A mode of existence in which a person owns their own being and choices

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Not measured numerically; described through phenomenological analysis of how a person relates to their own existence

In personality and counselling psychology, authenticity is treated as a measurable trait: the degree to which a person's outward behaviour and expressed feelings match their actual inner states and values, rather than being bent by outside pressure or self-deception. Wood, Linley, Maltby, Baliousis, and Joseph's 2008 The authentic personality built an Authenticity Scale with three parts, self-alienation, authentic living, and accepting external influence, and linked higher scores to well-being. The referent is a feature of an individual's psychology, scored by questionnaire, not a philosopher's mode of existence, a consumer's read on a brand, or a laboratory verdict on an artifact.[2]

Unit

A person's trait score for acting in line with their true self

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Self-report scales such as the Authenticity Scale, scoring self-alienation, authentic living, and accepting external influence

In marketing and consumer research, brand authenticity is the extent to which consumers perceive a brand as genuine: true to itself, honest with its customers, and consistent over time, whether or not that image tracks any objective fact. Morhart, Malär, Guevremont, Girardin, and Grohmann's 2015 study in the Journal of Consumer Psychology proposed an integrative framework and scale with dimensions of continuity, credibility, integrity, and symbolism. The referent is a perception held by an audience about a commercial object, measured by consumer ratings, and it differs from a mode of existence, a personality trait, or the material provenance of a physical thing. This site also carries brand-authenticity as its own construct page.[3]

Unit

A consumer's perceived-genuineness rating of a brand

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Consumer survey scales scoring continuity, credibility, integrity, and symbolism

In tourism and heritage studies, authenticity is the quality of being a genuine original rather than a copy or a staged show, applied both to objects a visitor sees and to the experience of the visit itself. Wang's 1999 Rethinking authenticity in tourism experience distinguished object-related authenticity, whether a site or artifact really is what it claims, from existential authenticity, the visitor's own feeling of a true experience. The referent is a property attributed to toured objects and experiences, judged by experts and visitors, and it is unrelated to a brand's perceived genuineness, an inner personal self, or a philosopher's owned existence.[4]

Unit

A judgement that a toured object or experience is genuine, not staged

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Assessed by expert authentication of objects and by visitor reports of a genuine experience

In neuroethics, authenticity refers to whether a brain intervention such as deep brain stimulation leaves patients feeling like their true selves or alienated from themselves. This meaning comes from Kraemer (2011) in Neuroethics.[5]

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