Self-Presentation

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Erving Goffman's Dramaturgical Thesis(The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life)

• In virtually everything we do, we are aware of its effects on audiences

• Therefore, we stage our behavior to have appropriate effects -- to create and save 'face'.

• We organize our own performance, the settings in which we orchestrate them, and the teams that support us strategically to create an impression of ourselves to present to an audience.

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Self-presentation• Constantly giving off statements about who we are• Some are explicitly communicative, at the individual

& group levels (i.e., we try to control the message that is conveyed)

• Some implicitly communicative, based on deeply ingrained behavior about how the type of person we are is supposed to behave• E.g., Gender-related behavior• E.g., Constraints on norm violations

• Some may be partially-genetic, with universal, innate meanings• E.g., Embarrassment displays• E.g., Smiles

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• Gain personal advantage: Manipulate audience to achieve personal ends

• Establish identify and esteem: Show that you are playing your part well

• Show commitment to the social order: Sincerity show that you are agreeing to many unspoken values

• Social economy: Provide cues to agreed upon definition of situation, so everyone knows his/her part

Functions of self presentation

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Signaling Occupation• What are the occupations?

• MD student receptionist flight attendant director

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Signaling social status

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Signaling desirability: Good looks on OKCupid

Good looks more messages & repliesApplies to women & men, but effect is stronger for women

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How you pose makes a difference FACIAL ATTITUDE. Smiling? Stare straight ahead? Do that flirty lip-pursing

thing? SKIN. How much skin is the person showing? How much face? How much

breasts? How much ripped abs? PHOTO CONTEXT. Alcohol? Pet? Outdoors? In a bedroom?

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Effects of Facial Attitude: Women

Women get more contacts– Look at camera– Smile– Flirty face

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Effects of Facial Attitude: Men

Men get more contacts– Look away– No smile

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Self-Presentation On Dating WebsiteRecruiting 80 users in NYC of 4 online dating sitesCompared their printed profile with onsite measurementsDeception if

– Height varied by > .5 inches– Weight varied by > 5 pounds– Age variable at all

Deception most likely with less attractive photos

• Hancock, J. T., Toma, C., & Ellison, N. (2007). The truth about lying in online dating profiles. Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, 449-452.

• Toma, C. L., & Hancock, J. T. (2010). Looks and lies: The role of physical attractiveness in online dating self-presentation and deception. Communication Research, 37(3), 335-351.

•

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Sincerity

• Actors can be cynical about their performances or believe them

• Process of self awareness is similar in either case• Except in passion, we are aware of the effects

of our performances & try to make them consistent with the line we are enacting

• Representation of an activity will vary in some degree from activity itself and will invariably misrepresent it

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Signaling Gender for Transgendered Woman (t-girls)

• Feminine hand movements• Feminine talking

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Walking like a woman

•The feminine walk is one of the hardest things to conquer when making your transition to femininity. …! It just takes practice and a lot of focus.:

• Women have a natural flow when they walk because of estrogen. Estrogen allows a woman to have increased flexibility in her joints which causes that graceful feline movement.

• Women have larger hips and longer legs which allow them to have a slight twist when they walk.

• Women walk are shorter and have slender shoulders which allows them to walk with shoulders back and head straight unlike men who lean down slightly.

• Women walk with their feet moving inward while men walk with their feet going straight; in a line.

•The goal is to produce a natural walk with fluidity and a slight jiggle. There are many ways to achieve this, some t-girls take HRT to help Mother Nature correct their walk. Others practice, practice, practice by walking in heels with their legs close together, rotating their hips and shoulders while standing up straight.

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Types of Messages

• State: Emotion, attention, respect, regret, embarrassment

• Stable individual characteristics: Role, status, competence

• Relationship vis a vis another: Dominance, "withness", intimacy

• ...

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Frame: Dinner & Deception “Make it nice.” Make it nice means you hold yourself

accountable to every detail. It means everything in the restaurant must appear perfect — the position of the candle votives, the part in your hair. Everything matters.

[A]s captains or servers or sommeliers, our job wasn’t just serving food, it was playing a part

Swan: Metaphor for the ideal server, churning tirelessly beneath the surface while maintaining the impression of absolute poise to the casual observer

How did they accomplish this?

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• Setting: The configured physical environment to support a performance

• Personal front: The accoutrements (e.g. clothes and accessories) one uses to support a performance

• Line: Consistent package of verbal & nonverbal behavior expressing a view of situation and especially one's self

• Associations: The people one is connected to• Manner: Style of interaction with others consistent with the

self being presented• Teams: Coordinated, mutually supported performances

designed to display a common self presentation towards an audience

Mechanisms for self-presentation

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The Sting (1973)

When a mutual friend is killed by a mob boss, two con men, one experienced and one young try to get even by pulling off the big con on the mob boss

Director: George Roy Jones Writer: David Ward Stars:

– Paul Newman– Robert Redford– Robert Shaw

Best picture + 6 other academy awards, 1973

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Oval office as setting

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Dress for Success Personal Front - Job Interviews

Women1.A well coordinated suit. Navy, grey, black, or

any other "non-loud" color. No slacks!2.A long sleeve blouse in a complimentary

color. White, cream, pastel.3.Neutral or skin-tone hosiery.4.Moderate matching shoes with a medium

heel.5.Subdued, sparse natural make-up and light

perfume.6.Neat and professional hair style. No pony

tails.7.Sparse jewelry.8.Manicured nails with light or clear nail polish.9.A leather portfolio or slim brief case.

Men1.A traditional conservative suit. Navy, grey,

black, or any other "non-loud" color.2.A white long sleeve shirt with a

conservative tie.3.Professional dress shoes with black over-

the-calf socks.4.Neat and professional hair style, clean

shaven, or trimmed facial hair.5.A watch and ONE ring. Leave the earring at

home.6.Light after shave or cologne.7.Trimmed and clean nails.8.A leather portfolio or slim brief case.

• Women and Men• * Keep the pierced body parts covered up if possible.

• * Shower, wash your hair, brush and floss your teeth, and use deodorant

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“Interview Suits” (Flickr)

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Line: Ways of behaving

Tie signs: Showing the “with” relationship

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• Communicate• Similarity/Conformity

• Competence

• Attraction

• Sociability

• Flattery

• Effects dependent upon• Status relationship

• Suspicion

• Relevance

Ingratiation as strategic self-presentation

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Opinion Conformity

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• Considerateness rule: We expect others to honor and even collaborate in maintaining our line

• Fundamental attribution error: As audience, we tend to over attribute a person's behavior to his/her stable properties

• Discounting rules• We discount self-promoting behavior• We discount controllable behavior• But we under discount

Audiences typically accept the performance

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Ingratiation: What actually works (meta-analysis)?

• Gordon, R. A. (1996). Impact of ingratiation on judgments and evaluations: A meta-analytic investigation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(1), 54.

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Emotional Expression as a Line

• Both structure (e.g. opposable thumb) & behavior (e.g., blush & downcast look of embarrassment) can have a genetic component

• Dramaturgical model assumes emotional displays are (partially) self-conscious, not completely spontaneous & genetic

• Even genetically-based displays can be posed

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Universal expressions of emotion

• Happy • Interest• Surprise

• Contempt

• Sad

• Anger • Fear • Disgust

• Shame/Shy

• Embarrassment

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Which is the genuine smile?

• Fake smile • Felt, Duchenne smile

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Smiling as self-presentation

LaFrance et al meta analysis – Quantitative review of 162 published article

Women smile more than men– Average effect size = .41

Why does this occur? – Biological– Self presentation– What variables moderate the difference in smiling?

If self-presentation, expect difference in size of effect in different social settings

• LaFrance, M., Hecht, M. A., & Paluck, E. L. (2003). The contingent smile: A meta-analysis of sex differences in smiling. Psychological Bulletin, 129(2), 305–334.

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When Will Difference in Smiling Between Men and Women Be Largest?

If sex difference in smiling is the result of self-presentation, then differences are largest:– When people are on display– When people are trying to hide negative emotion– When behavior is not scripted the same for men

and women by role or intent

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People on Display

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

No awareness of observation

Knowledge of observation

Salient awareness of observation

No social interaction

Social interaction

No "get acquainted' instructions

"Get acquainted' instructions

Effect size (d)

Logic: Gender differences more likely to appear when people are on display.

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Team impression management

• Coordinated, mutually supported performances designed to display a common presentation towards an audience

• Any member can give away the show for them all

• House of Games clip

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House of Games (1987) A psychiatrist comes to

the aid of a compulsive gambler and is led by a smooth-talking grifter into the shadowy but compelling world of stings, scams, and con men. – Director & writer: David

Mamet– Stars: Lindsay Crouse, Joe

Mantegna and Mike Nussbaum |

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Individual impression management

•Skilled performance•Long socialization periods

• Breed sincerity• Develop practiced behaviors

•Flubs are helped by audience's collusion & psychological processes

• Fundamental attribution error

Self-presentation for self definition

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What Is the Real Me?

• Opus, Berkely Breathed, Oct 29, 2006

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Role Theory

• Our behavior is prescribed by a set of role demands and obligations

• Roles: Social positions, with complementary expectations for performance, enforced by positive and negative sanctions– E.g., Occupation, gender, age, family

Roles are part of a social system, whose members have complementary rights and obligations– E.g., Doctor, nurse, receptionist, patient– E.g., Husband, wife, teenage child, adult parent– E.g., Debater, questioner, audience, camera operator

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Identity & Roles

Identity: Deeply held beliefs about who we are– “Relatively stable and enduring constellation of attributes, beliefs,

values, motives and experiences in terms of which people define themselves”-- Ibarra, 1999, p 764-765.

People establish identities vis-à-vis the roles they occupy Roles transitions reveal a disconnect between the identities we

already have and the new roles we move into We learn to play the role by:

– Selecting & observing role models– Experimenting with “provisional selves” thru imitation – incorporate

elements of role behavior consistent with existing identity & skills– Internal & external assessments of provisional selves.

Eventually, the new role gets incorporated into our identities

Use of self-presentation to define oneself

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Liar’s Poker

Persona eventually become incorporated into one’s identity

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Sincerity

• Actors can be cynical about their performances or believe them

• Process of self awareness is similar in either case

• Except in passion, we are aware of the effects of our performances & try to make them consistent with the line we are enacting

• Representation of an activity will vary in some degree from activity itself and will invariably misrepresent it

• Easiest to see how we learn to form an identity from the outside in when at role transition

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Consulting Moving from technical analysts supporting a

team leader to team leaders, interacting with client and providing diagnoses and action plans

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Finance

Moving from technician doing the models for a deal to VPs who coordinate a team and act as liaison btw client and firm

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Adaptation in Role Transitions

Situational Influences Job requirements Display rules Socialization practices Role models

Individual Influences Prior identity Traits, abilities, skills Experiences

Adaptation Repertoire Elements of the role to

play–attitudes, behaviors, displays,routines

Possible selves

Adaptation Process

Observe role models

Experiment withprovision selves

Evaluate

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Important variations in adaptation involve the relative importance of external vs. internal influence

Observing role models-Identifying a set of moves– E: Role prototyping: Observing and incorporating traits and

routines from role models– I: Identity matching: Figuring out what one is by comparing role

model’s attributes with ones own. Experimentation-Trying them on

– E: Imitation: Adapting repertoire from one or many role models– I: True-to-self

Evaluations-Seeing which work– E: External feedback: Formal & informal feedback– I: Internal evaluation: Seeing self from stand point of the other

& asking, “is this working, can I pull this off?”

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Learning what to become

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Adaptation

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Evaluation