Who Am I? And Does It Matter? Integrating Eastern and Western frameworks by Exploring the Relationship Between Nonself Orientations, Self-Discrepancy, and Stress.

Nonself orientations, particularly nonattachment, may reduce perceived stress not by shrinking the gap between one's actual and ideal self but by lessening the distress that such gaps cause. In 181 adults, all four nonself measures (nonattachment, nondual embodiment, quiet ego, ego dissolution) correlated negatively with both ideal and ought self-discrepancy. Yet mediation analyses showed only nonattachment had indirect effects on stress through reduced discrepancy-related distress, not through self-discrepancy magnitude itself. Self-discrepancy did not directly correlate with stress, and three nonself measures unexpectedly showed positive associations with stress, suggesting reverse causation or measurement issues.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Eastern contemplative psychology proposes that clinging to a fixed self-concept generates psychological suffering, while Western psychology’s self-discrepancy theory describes how gaps between actual and ideal/ought self-representations produce distress. Despite their theoretical complementarity, no empirical research to date has examined this intersection. The present study investigated whether nonself orientations relate to reduced perceived stress through the mediation of self-discrepancy. A sample of 181 adults recruited from Prolific completed measures of four nonself-related constructs (nonattachment, nondual embodiment, quiet ego, and ego dissolution), followed by self-discrepancy and perceived stress measures. Regression-based path analysis was employed in RStudio to test for indirect effects while controlling for demographic and experiential variables including meditation and psychedelic experience. All four nonself measures demonstrated significant negative correlations with both ideal and ought self-discrepancy at the bivariate level, supporting the hypothesised associations. However, mediation analyses revealed only partial support for the proposed model: nonattachment showed significant indirect effects on perceived stress through reduced discrepancy-related distress, but not through self-discrepancy magnitude itself. Unexpectedly, self-discrepancy did not directly correlate with perceived stress, and three nonself measures showed positive associations with stress. This pattern may reflect reverse causation or measurement artefacts that will require further investigation. The central finding suggests that nonself orientations, particularly nonattachment, may influence perceived stress not by reducing self-discrepancy magnitude but by attenuating the distress that discrepancies produce. These results highlight the complexity of relationships between nonself orientations and well-being, with implications for integrating Eastern contemplative and Western self-discrepancy frameworks in clinical practices addressing psychological distress.