The True Self Method for Studying the Self‐conception*

An open‐ended questionnaire technique for identifying the self‐conception which can be used in lieu of or in combination with the TST is described. Respondents are asked to relate experiences in which they felt that their true selves were expressed, and in which their true selves were misrepresented. It is assumed that investigators can make more refined inferences about the social anchorage of the self‐conception from accounts of experience than from single words and short phrases, and that understanding the circumstances which evoke vital feelings of true‐self and not‐self is more fundamental than knowing the self designations that people make on the basis of these experiences. Possible uses of the method are discussed. Preliminary findings from using the method to distinguish between self‐anchorage in impulse and in institution are briefly presented.