Self-presentation, as described by sociologists, is behavior that attempts to convey some information about oneself or some image of oneself to other people. People spend most of their time with others, making self-presentation a fundamental part of their behaviour. Everyone consciously or subconsciously wants to influence the perception of their image. This phenomenon is called impression management, a process in which people attempt to influence the perceptions of other people about a person, object or event. People practice impression management during both online and offline interactions. Impression management during online and offline interaction gives rise to the question: can online interactions be as significant as offline interactions to one’s personality? The complex nature of human interactions causes intermingling of the offline and online personalities, resulting in dependence between the online and offline identities of people. Online personalities are not only influenced by a person’s real identity, they also influence a person’s offline identity. Thus, both online and offline identities play an indispensible role in defining the personality of a person. Impression management requires regulating and controlling information in social interaction, according to Piwinger et al. (2001). All participants in social interactions are engaged in practices to avoid being embarrassed or embarrassing others, according to Goffman in ‘The Presentation of Self in Everyday
Boyd, Danah. “Impression Management in a Networked Setting” Reading pop culture, 2nd Ed Edited by Jeff Osbourne. Bedford / St. Martins, 2016, PP, 122-127
This may have an impact on others so they use coping strategies to preserve their self-presentation when regulating their behaviours whilst in the company of others.
Learning about dramaturgy and the idea of maintaining self is very important to social interactions. Erving Goffman’s theoretical concepts that make up dramaturgy can be seen in many social settings especial at Starbucks. By using the different tools that make up impression management I can see how we are very much like actors in a play that are trying to maintain a believable performance.
“People can take their time when posting information about themselves, carefully selecting what aspects they would like to emphasize (Gonzales 80).” By controlling what information and self-attributes to share with the online world, an individual may present an idealized version of self that would not align with societal perceptions in the face-to-face interactions. Furthermore, Gonzales notes that recent research in computer-mediated communications suggests that online self-presentations can alter self-perceptions (80). As Orenstein says, “I tweet, therefore I am.” The online presentations of self can become the reality, or idealized reality, of the
Within my daily interactions in my life, I observed impression management with my younger brother at his basketball tryouts. Impression management is defined as “the communication strategies people use to influence on how others view them” ( Chapter 4, 80). An example of that happened a month ago at my brothers’ basketball tryouts, my brother from what he perceived to me when we
The way this all ties into impression management is how all these people were acting. At the College everyone was acting the same, there was nothing different going on. It’s like the students saw how others studied and then to just look normal they also engaged in that activity. It’s a bit different for GameStop since most people were in and out in about four minutes. At Sam’s Club you it was hard to tell how impression management was tied in since it was so crowded but it’s to be assumed to me that when someone notices someone buying a product people get curious and may get the same thing to fit in. It might not work like that exactly but in a way it could. This assignment impacted my understanding of impression management buy making me realize that our environment and the people in our area really affects the actions of how we act. It made me see how people really do adapt to how things or people are around then. Even now I notice how different I can act around a new social group so I can be deemed normal by that certain groups standards. In which different social groups or classes would have a different definition of normal. That’s how this impacted the way I see how impression management
Submit this graded exercise about the same time as Written Assignment 8. Note that it will require more time and effort than the written assignment, and therefore counts for a larger part of your grade.
Many people may notice that they tend to act differently around different people. In one case, one may act outlandish and carefree when he is with his friends, but on the other hand, he might act in a more reserved and quiet manner when around people he is less acquainted with. This behavior could lead to people wondering whether or not this person is being genuine with them or not. Moreover, these actions are quite common in society, literature, and many psychological and scientific studies. Overall, people should act as genuine as they can in order to prevent false assumptions about the person.
In everyday society, individuals play a number of social roles” (113). As a result, people take on different roles and perform differently according to their social status and audience. According to Goffman, “People are sensitive to how they are seen by others and use many forms of impression management to compare others to react to them in ways they wish” (114). He shows
A., Park, N., Song, H., & Cody, M. J., 2010). Research shows that there are different factors that can influence strategic misrepresentation in someone’s online profile when the person lies about who they are and what they look like. Hall found that online dating service users sought a balance between an accurate self-presentation (true self) and a desirable self-presentation (ideal self). It also showed that online misrepresentation is not a rare phenomenon. In their study, 81% of the participants lied about at least one physical attribute in their online profile, although the magnitude of most deceptions was so small that it would be hard to detect in an FtF interaction (Hall, J. A., Park, N., Song, H., & Cody, M. J., 2010). Online dating has become prevalent today. We have become a technological society and people who chose to date online should not be discriminated against. Study shows that 11% of American adults—and 38% of those who are currently “single and looking” for a partner—have used online dating sites or mobile dating apps (Smith, A., & Duggan, M.,
The study of the dramaturgical approach includes how people typically present themselves, act out their lives, and control how others perceive them during interactions on a day-to-day basis. The concept, impression management, focuses on how people manage the way in which they act so to control how others perceive them. It is assumed that a person has some control over how the people or audience views them, especially during our interactions with them; according to the text, people also need to use this time to “practice identities before fully incorporating them into our sense of self” (Rohall, David, Milkie, Melissa, & Lucas, Jeffrey, 2014, p. 128). What a person thinks of them and how they think others perceive them can help to create a
The sociological concept of “Impression Management” refers to the modifications we apply to our “Authentic Self.” Meaning that the way we show ourselves to society might not always be our real self. It is a construction of self with the purpose of controlling what other people think of us (DuBrin, 2011). The various “Stages” of our day-to-day life demand, or better said, suggest a slightly different version of us in order to meet social standards, or perhaps impress a certain group of society. The term “Stage” --coined by sociologist Erving Goffman—refers to everyday life situations in which we might benefit from portraying ourselves in a certain manner.
Recent research has documented how technology, and social networking sites (SNS; e.g., Facebook, Instagram) in particular, have given rise to a growing obsession with impression management and self-presentation online. Whether it’s searching for the perfect Instagram photo filter or carefully crafting a humblebrag Facebook status about a recent publication, users frequently engage in selective self-presentation strategies to portray an ‘ideal self’ through social media (Chou & Edge, 2012; Manago, Graham, Greenfield, & Salimkhan, 2008). In turn, we seek out social approval and positive feedback in the form of comments and likes.
According to Bevan & Sole (2014), managing your impressions and identities means "Even before a person opens their mouth to speak, you have likely already started to form an opinion of him or her based on how they look, what they are wearing, posture, and whether they make eye contact. For example, when I meet someone for the first time, I try to read them by letting them speak first because I want to see what kind of person they are physically and mentally. For instance, if I go a job interview and I notice the manager is well dressed, good posture with a seriousness facial expression, I will make sure to present myself very confident because I will feel that they will need a confident person for the position. According to (Guerrero et al., 2008), physical appearance and body movements are particularly important in forming the first impression because these are an example of visual cues that is notice. For instance, my husband and I get into a disagreement while he is trying to explain his side of the situation, I crossed my arm over my chest and crossed my legs while shaking them at the same time. He will see that my body language is not accepting what he is saying.
In much the same way as Goffman described life as a play; it called “Dramaturgy”, people are learning to perform their self in everyday life. Erving Goffman defines dramaturgy, “in which social life is analyzed in term of drama or the stage;” (115). Social media allows people to use different forms of impression management. According to Henslin defines impression management, “People’s efforts to control the impressions that others receive of them.” (115) In my analysis of person B’s Facebook posts I noticed several trends. In the four photos that were selfies I noticed some particular facial expressions, one of Goffman’s sign vehicles. In the four selfies I analyzed, the person was smiling as her facial expression. I believe that the reason she makes this face is to give the impression that she was happy, and make the others who checked her pictures feel happy and think of her as a friendly