Is There a True Self? Investigating Self-Essentialism In Adults

We investigated whether adults perceive changes between their current, past and future selves and if self-essentialism was related to perceived changes.  Higher perceptions of  “true” selves were negatively correlated with perceived changes at four time points, r(202)=-.362, p<.001. Further, age was positively associated with self-essentialism, supporting the socioemotional selectivity theory.