36 checked facts

Identity

Everything on this site about identity — each one naming the study behind it.

Your friends' success hurts more when it involves your own talent.
The self-evaluation maintenance model suggests you feel threatened when a close friend outperforms you in a domain ess…
You overestimate your personal consistency.
The 'end of history illusion' suggests that people consistently fail to anticipate how their personality and preferenc…
You misremember your past self to fit your current values.
A 1986 study by Ross and Conway demonstrated that individuals recall their past attitudes as more similar to their cur…
You struggle to recognize your own recorded voice.
Most people report a sense of alienation or discrepancy when hearing a playback of their own speech.…
You overestimate how much you will change in the future.
In a 2013 survey, people recognized how much they changed in the past but insisted their current personality was set f…
You adjust your identity to match your recent decisions.
After making a difficult choice, you will inflate the value of your chosen option and devalue the rejected one.…
You interpret your own past as more stable than it was.
In a 2000 study, individuals retrospectively adjusted their past attitudes to align with their current beliefs, falsel…
You subconsciously shift your persona for every setting.
Individuals who score high in self-monitoring intentionally adjust their behavior to match the expectations of their i…
You think your past tastes are a map of your future.
The consistency bias is the tendency to reconstruct your past beliefs to be more in line with your current ones.…
You believe your future self is a stranger.
Neuroimaging studies indicate that, for individuals with low future-self continuity, the brain processes the future se…
Your name influences your career choices.
Research in the early 2000s suggested a correlation between initials and career choice, but this has been largely debu…
You are more likely to trust a stranger if they share your birthday.
Implicit egotism is a controversial hypothesis proposing a subconscious preference for self-associated stimuli, but it…
You view your past self as a complete stranger.
A 2009 study found that brain activity patterns when thinking about your future self resemble those for thinking about…
You cling to your convictions even when proven false.
A 1975 study found that participants still believed in their own ability to detect suicide notes even after researcher…
You believe you have finally become your final self.
A 2013 study found that people consistently underestimate how much their personality, values, and preferences will cha…
You think your personality is finished developing today.
The end-of-history illusion shows people recognize they have changed in the past but mistakenly believe they will rema…
You believe you have finished changing your personality.
The end-of-history illusion is the tendency to believe that while you changed in the past, you are essentially 'done' …
You believe you are better than you actually are.
A 1981 study found that 93% of the US student sample surveyed rated their driving skills as above the median.…
You remember information best when it relates to you.
The self-reference effect demonstrates that humans have superior recall for information processed in relation to their…
You believe you are more unique than you are.
The false uniqueness effect leads you to overestimate how rare your own positive traits and abilities actually are.…
You think your personal memories are objectively accurate.
Source monitoring errors lead you to misattribute the origin of your memories.…
You prefer being accurately judged over being falsely praised.
Self-verification theory suggests that people seek feedback that confirms their own existing self-concept.…
You claim success for a team you barely know.
Basking in reflected glory (BIRGing) is the tendency to align with successful groups to bolster self-esteem or social …
You feel an ownership for groups you did not join.
Basking in reflected glory is the tendency to associate yourself with successful groups or individuals to bolster your…
You unconsciously prefer items that share your own initials.
In a 2002 study, researchers proposed that people are disproportionately likely to live in cities or pursue careers th…
You wrongly believe you have reached your final self.
The 'end of history illusion' is the psychological finding that people view their current self as the definitive versi…
Most of your core identity formed in late adolescence.
The 'reminiscence bump' is the tendency for older adults to have increased recollection of events from their teenage y…
One new purchase triggers a cycle of constant upgrades.
The Diderot effect describes how a single acquisition often leads to a spiral of consumption.…
You are a member of a group just by existing.
A 1970 study showed that people favored others simply because they were assigned to the same arbitrary group, even whe…
You adapt your behavior to fit what others expect.
A 1974 study found that high self-monitors consistently changed their behavior to match the social situation, whereas …
You seek out people who confirm your negative traits.
A 1983 study showed that people preferred feedback that aligned with their existing self-conception.…
You change your attitude to match your behavior.
Self-perception theory suggests that when your internal beliefs are unclear, you infer them by observing your own past…
You claim credit for things you did not do.
A 1976 study found students were significantly more likely to wear school apparel after their team won a game.…
You believe you have finally finished changing your personality.
In a 2013 study of 7,500 adults, participants consistently underestimated how much their personality, values, and pref…
You take the credit and blame the world.
A 1975 study by Miller and Ross examined the self-serving bias, questioning whether the attribution of success to inte…
You subconsciously prefer the letters in your own name.
While Pelham et al. (2002) published findings suggesting implicit egotism, those results have been widely criticized f…