In a series of studies involving thousands of participants, social psychologists at Columbia Business School found that social status (defined as how well liked someone is) is deeply important when it comes to being yourself. "Our findings suggest that social status may be as important as self-esteem in increasing authenticity, which is surprising," said Erica R. Bailey, a Ph.D. student who worked on the studies, said.
Dr. James T. Carter, another one of the researchers and an assistant professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University, told Fast Company that the study used Bailey's previous work, which developed ways to quantify authenticity.
The studies involved conversations between strangers which took place over Zoom. The researchers then manipulated social status in follow up experiments. Researchers created scenarios, such as one where participants were told if they were selected or not for Employee of the Month, which was based on being "well-respected and admired by others." They were asked to write about how the experience made them feel. Carter said the experiments showed that social status increased "felt and expressed authenticity."