Self Presentation or Impression Management
How we present ourselves to others is a form of communication. You
are communicating a message about who you are - an image
Dale Carnegie in "How to Win Friends and Influence People"
trains us how to manage our impressions
Goffman
- "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life" - verbal and nonverbal
acts that communicate one's view
Role
theory grew out of GH Mead's Symbolic
Interactionism - this theory essentially says that there are as many selves
as there are social roles that we play
Goffman - role theory (the
dramaturgical tradition);
line
- point of view, everyone brings one
face
- positive social value a participant claims in a situation or an interaction
(if a person behaves appropriately, he is "in face"; if he behaves
inappropriately, he is "out of face")
face work
- mutual maintaining of face; to smooth over obstacles (giving excuses for
other's social blunders)
There are rules for face-to-face encounters based on roles and role
relationships (social contract).
Role
expectations are specific requirements attached to specific roles.
Role reciprocity refers to the give and
take between roles. Role conflict
occurs when expectations between roles (interrole) or within a role (intrarole)
are violated or potentially violated.
According to this theory, behavior is determined by the situation (situated
identities). One's social identity
refers to the ways people are defined and regarded in social situations. Social identities are broken down into Situated Identities ( identity specific to particular interactions
with particular others) and Composite
Identities ( a general concept of yourself that subsumes a variety of
social interactions). Self concept
- a theory a person constructs about him/herselfEthnic Identitiy _ a
type of social identity where a person identifies with a particular group
based on race, religion, or ethnicity. Social Identity Theory looks
at aspects of an individual's sense of self based on his/her group identities.
We often become the roles we play - Zimbarbo's
Prison simulation study; Humphrey's
(1985) business office simulation - randomly determined who would be managers
and who would be clerks; findings: both clerks and managers found the managers
to be more intelligent, supportive, assertive, and leaderlike; Langer and Benevuto (1978) subservient
role leads to self-induced dependency
Why do we engage in impression management?
1)Social approval (positive reinforcement); impression management is a means to an end:
2) Identity development: (developing a
sense of who we are)
Jellison and Gentry
- interview for employment: some Ss were told that the interviewer liked people
who agreed with him while others were told that the interviewer liked people
who disagreed with him. What do you suppose the interviewees did?
Researchers find that employees are sensitive to the point of view
of their employers when expressing opinions
Sex roles and social approval
- playing dumb; a social expectation for males and females
Impression Management Strategies
Ingratiation
- influencing another's perception of our attractiveness; conforming, complimenting
Intimidation
- arousing fear
Self promotion
- to be seen as competent
Exemplification
- to elicit perceptions of integrity or morality or to arouse guilt
Supplication
- advertising weaknesses, seeking sympathy
Behavioral matching
- acting like the person you are trying to impress
Conforming to situational norms
- situated identities (funeral - wearing somber clothes, etc.
self-promotion
- increasing one's own power, bragging, to be perceived as competent or good/ exemplification - strategy to elicit
perception of integrity and moral worthiness or to arouse guilt (playing the
martyr); supplication - advertising
weaknesses (playing dumb)
ingratiation
- influencing others' perception of our attractiveness by conforming, complimenting,
being submissive, paying attention to them ("yes" men)
intimidation
- strategy used to arouse fear in others
Self-schemas
- beliefs we have about ourselves; we are schematic on issues that are of
interest to us and we are always interested in things that affect us or objects,
events, and people who we affect. Self schema affect how we process information
and what we remember e.g. gender schema
Individual differences in impression management:
Self-Monitoring
- active attempt to control images and impressions give to others (Mark Snyder)
High self-monitors
- concerned about the situational and interpersonal appropriateness of his/her
behavior; sensitive to cues as to the social appropriateness of behavior;
uses situational cues to control verbal and nonverbal self-presentation
Low self-monitors -
expressive behavior controlled by internal affective state and stable attitudes
High self monitors are tuned into the social setting; they read and
rely on cues from the setting and from others to determine how they should
behave; goal- to promote smooth social interactions; actors, politicians,
hosts. The TO TELL THE TRUTH study
Low self- monitors - what you see is what you get; behavior is determined
by internal states; see themselves as principled; see high monitors as false
Self-consciousness (self-awareness)
Private - greater self-knowledge
Public - greater awareness of how others see you and respond to you
Machiavellianism (Christie & Geis)
- high need for power; avoid emotional attachment; respond to elements in
the situation that will produce the desirable results; control the means of
influencing others (opportunistic; manipulating)
Machiavellianism - the need for power; Christie and Geis - the MACH
scale
self-seeking opportunists; modify their behavior in order to control
others