The I vs Me
During my Social Psych class yesterday we touched on a topic called Impression Management. In basic terms we seek to explain the main reasons how our behaviour is shaped -
Impression Management
It can be defined as the goal-directed activity of controlling or regulating information in order to influence the impressions formed by an audience. Through Impression Management, people try to shape an audience's impressions of a person. When people are trying to control impressions of themselves, as opposed to other people or entities, the activity is called Self-Presentation.
Does this ring a bell in some people's heads? Think! Where can we put this to practical usage?
+ + ADVERTISING + +
Advertising is simply the art of influence through the control of information. What is being "presented" are signals to get people to form the "right" impression, about us and the things we care about.
Something familiar ~
TA-DAHH!! Who could have forgotten the look on the young man's face when he had just completed his "masterpiece?"
At another level, though, I would say that Impression Management is not simply a type of behavior that occurs only under limited circumstances, such as during a job interview or on a date. Instead, Impression Management is an interaction of interpersonal experience. People do not deal with information randomly or dispassionately. Our opinions about what constitutes the "truth" are affected by our personal agendas or self-interests. To help us to accomplish our objectives in life, we "package" information to help our "audiences" ie. family, friends or even work colleagues to draw the "right" conclusion.
Now, this is not necessarily deceptive or immoral, although it certainly can be used for illicit ends. Therefore, Impression management is like presenting an edited work designed to convey key information effectively to others. We simply cannot reveal everything about ourselves to a particular audience; it is impossible. We must edit the information to make it "fitting to the occasion." and it may take just as much social skill to create an accurate impression as to create a misleading one. In fact, research has shown that people who have better acting skills also are more successful at presenting themselves accurately to others. Hint - Beware of actors and actresses *Loud Laughter*
Ok Ok... Let me defend Impression Management on some grounds -
Impression management also can be used for beneficial ends. Although people act in ways that advance their own self-interests, they also seem to regulate information in order to support and protect the identities of others, to make others feel good, to help others cope, and to inspire them to seek new challenges.
Summary? - White Lies.. Or Half-Truths? Perhaps even Hidden Truths.
An example of such beneficial impression management is the father who helps his child interpret a failure in a way that preserves the child's self-confidence and promotes effective coping, even if the father is privately unsure about the real causes of the failure.
Hmmm........ Ok, maybe we don't need others to "filter" our information for us. What if, I'm saying what if, our beliefs and values are shaped by how others sees us? Would we be the ones to "filter" the information?
In Layman's terms - We choose to believe what we think is good for us.
Sounds familiar again? How many times have you been told that you're lousy? You suck? And you refuse to believe? Simple, because you are filtering the information that is being fed to you. And in the process if you strongly believe you're good, these words will not affect you directly but subconciously - you might be driven to perform even better or on the reverse psychology side you perform certain destructive actions on purpose and then attempt to perform brilliantly just to emphasise the fact that you ARE good. In the process, we lose track of what was our original purpose and our destructive motives get out of control - Crime, or even Murder occurs.
Ponder my friends.
Impression Management
It can be defined as the goal-directed activity of controlling or regulating information in order to influence the impressions formed by an audience. Through Impression Management, people try to shape an audience's impressions of a person. When people are trying to control impressions of themselves, as opposed to other people or entities, the activity is called Self-Presentation.
Does this ring a bell in some people's heads? Think! Where can we put this to practical usage?
+ + ADVERTISING + +
Advertising is simply the art of influence through the control of information. What is being "presented" are signals to get people to form the "right" impression, about us and the things we care about.
Something familiar ~
TA-DAHH!! Who could have forgotten the look on the young man's face when he had just completed his "masterpiece?"
At another level, though, I would say that Impression Management is not simply a type of behavior that occurs only under limited circumstances, such as during a job interview or on a date. Instead, Impression Management is an interaction of interpersonal experience. People do not deal with information randomly or dispassionately. Our opinions about what constitutes the "truth" are affected by our personal agendas or self-interests. To help us to accomplish our objectives in life, we "package" information to help our "audiences" ie. family, friends or even work colleagues to draw the "right" conclusion.
Now, this is not necessarily deceptive or immoral, although it certainly can be used for illicit ends. Therefore, Impression management is like presenting an edited work designed to convey key information effectively to others. We simply cannot reveal everything about ourselves to a particular audience; it is impossible. We must edit the information to make it "fitting to the occasion." and it may take just as much social skill to create an accurate impression as to create a misleading one. In fact, research has shown that people who have better acting skills also are more successful at presenting themselves accurately to others. Hint - Beware of actors and actresses *Loud Laughter*
Ok Ok... Let me defend Impression Management on some grounds -
Impression management also can be used for beneficial ends. Although people act in ways that advance their own self-interests, they also seem to regulate information in order to support and protect the identities of others, to make others feel good, to help others cope, and to inspire them to seek new challenges.
Summary? - White Lies.. Or Half-Truths? Perhaps even Hidden Truths.
An example of such beneficial impression management is the father who helps his child interpret a failure in a way that preserves the child's self-confidence and promotes effective coping, even if the father is privately unsure about the real causes of the failure.
Hmmm........ Ok, maybe we don't need others to "filter" our information for us. What if, I'm saying what if, our beliefs and values are shaped by how others sees us? Would we be the ones to "filter" the information?
In Layman's terms - We choose to believe what we think is good for us.
Sounds familiar again? How many times have you been told that you're lousy? You suck? And you refuse to believe? Simple, because you are filtering the information that is being fed to you. And in the process if you strongly believe you're good, these words will not affect you directly but subconciously - you might be driven to perform even better or on the reverse psychology side you perform certain destructive actions on purpose and then attempt to perform brilliantly just to emphasise the fact that you ARE good. In the process, we lose track of what was our original purpose and our destructive motives get out of control - Crime, or even Murder occurs.
Ponder my friends.
posted by Inarticulate at 10:48 AM
2 Comments:
Blogs can be an alternate avenue for people to rant about their lives, their issues in life and quite possibly [as you mentioned] an image that they would like to project of themselves to other people.
Like the I vs Me, when you look at a mirror do you see yourself for what you are? In stark contrast? Or do you start to visualise the 'potential' that lies in the image of the mirror? Some people follow that belief and perhaps work their way to success. Others however, delude themselves into achieving the impossible.
Like the child who craves for an ice-cream when he sees the other child at the next table, you tend to crave for something that you desire but you do not possess.
Twisted thought - They have no identity?
Just as we all study people on their individual actions, often we use their actions either as mimics for ourselves [hence no identity just follow or copy] or deterrents never to follow [hence the strong need to establish unique actions or to change things].
Yes, we are all voyeurs to a certain extent. To what extent would lie in the strength of what we believe in.
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