Authenticity

Abstract The history of the concept of personal authenticity can be traced back to ancient Greek philosophy as revealed in injunctions such as “Know thyself” and “To thine own self be true.” However, there is no single, coherent body of literature on authentic-self behavior, no bedrock of knowledge. Rather, there are unconnected islands that address different aspects of authenticity in rather piecemeal fashion, including historical analyses, clinical treatments, social-psychological perspectives, and developmental formulations.