William Shakespeare for the play As You Like It in 1599 or 1600, in which Shakespeare described ‘the world from a theatrical point of view surrounding the seven ages of humanity from infancy to old age (Shakespeare, 1848). Littlejohn and Foss (2003, p. 87) implied that Goffman simply meant ‘the same when he brought forth the idea that our everyday settings are viewed as a stage where the people are considered actors who use their performances to make an impression on an audience. In other words, everyone's life is but a series of performances and impression management is at the core of each performance. 2.4 Impression Management Impression management can be further broken down into six aspects — the definition of a situation, expressions and impressions, front stage and back stage, accounts, self-enhancement and ingratiation as well as self-awareness, self-monitoring and self-disclosure. The definition of a situation is central to Goffinan’s notion of impression management. To define a situation is to make sense of the events encountered in everyday life. To put it differently, it is the ability one uses to interpret the situation he or she is in. The question that normally comes to mind when defining a situation is “What is going on here?” or “What has happened?”. The answers obtained would be the definition one gets régarding the said situation. According to Littlejohn and Foss (2008, p. 87), the definition of a situation can be divided into strips and frames where a strip is a sequence of activities while a frame is a basic organizational pattern used to define astrip. For example, a man puts his hand into his pocket; he removed his cellphone from his pocket; he made a call on his cellphone; he put his cellphone back in his pocket. This sequence of activities is called a strip where it can be framed as the man making a call on his cellphone. Hence, frameworks are the models used to comprehend one’s experiences, the ways things are seen as fitting together into some coherent whole (ibid). In a way, these are like the jigsaw puzzles of life. ‘That is why, face-to-face engagements or encounters, where people take turns presenting dramas to ‘one another, are viewed in the context of frame analysis (ibid). ‘The second aspect of impression management is the expressions and impressions. Impressions are created through what Goffman called sign vehicles or carriers that include both language and body language (Goffman, 1959, p. 1). Impressions are created via expressions. Goffman (1959, p. 2) further explained that expressions can be radically divided into the expressions one gives and the expressions one gives off. The expressions one gives are the primary ‘things said, the intentional poses, the facial gestures? and other controlled body languages that are emitted. On the other hand, The expressions one gives off are the clements of one’s expressiveness over which one has less control. This means that inconsistencies exist between what is said and 2 Examples of facial gestures are smiles, winks, surprise, sad and etcetera. ei2what is actually done and the body language is usually the ‘culprit’ that gives an individual away in some situations. Or, as Manning (1991, p. 76) puts it, impressions that are given are used admittedly while those which are given off convey information inadvertently. Impressions are managed within contexts or settings where various personal fronts* are needed to work in different settings as required by social norms. Sometimes, personal fronts are altered to suit a situation an individual may be in, such as a young doctor trying to look older and more matured for his or her patients. In dramaturgy, the front stage and back stage cannot be ignored. The front stage of life’s performances occurs in situations where individuals interacts with others in public or in professional settings while the back stage behaviours normally but not necessary happens in one’s home environment where one can stretch and relax without having to consider the presence of others. In other words, the front stage is what confronts the audience or to put it rightly, what the actors intend for their audience to see as contrast to the back stage where all support activities necessary for maintaining the performance on the main stage happen (Kivisto & Pittman, 2007, p. 280) ‘The next aspect of impressions management aré accounts which are the statements people provide to explain a behaviour that was unanticipated or improper. There are two types of accounts, namely excuses and justifications. Excuses are attempts to lessen responsibility. An individual can be clearly scen as using excuses when he or she implied the notion of “I don’t know.”, “Don’t blame me.” or any other similar statements. These show that the individual is trying to convince others the fault that occurred is not his or her responsible or at the very least, the responsibility is not fully his or hers. In contrast, justifications are attempts to suggest that the behaviour had some positive outcome. In justifying, one admits that the fault is his or hers but gives explanations as to why the fault was committed. Impression management usually includes self-enhancement or ingratiation to a certain extend. These are described by Jones and Pitman (1982) as behaviours performed by individuals that have the effect of making the actor seem more likeable (as cited in Nguyen, Seers & Hartman, 2008, p. 150). They are the attempts one make to inflat his or her credentials, statuses and so on by trying to alter the situation through flattery, agreeing with others beyond the individual’s true beliefs, doing favours and even falsely presenting one’s self to others in a favourable light. Lastly, impression management also looks into self-awareness, self-monitoring and self disclosure. Self-awareness is when one’s attention is focused on the self — the private self and the public self. The private self is the part of the self in which an individual’s attitude cannot be perceived by others while the public self is that part which is given away by an individual's > Examples of personal fronts are age. gender, hair styles, clothing and etcetera, naemannerisms and behaviourisms. People differ to the degree in which they are self-aware and the ‘consequences that it entails. Once people become accomplished ‘actors’, they get better at self- monitoring so that they become more attuned to the reactions of others and adjust their bahaviours accordingly and be on the fly. A high self-monitor individual will’always be aware of his or her social situations and will be able to pick up cues easily. Finally, self-disclosure is by which individuals can regulate what others know about them. It is the amount of information one is ‘willing to reveal about the self to others. It is the breadth and the depth of one’s self an individual is ‘willing to give to achieve a certain level of intimacy. 2.5 Assumptions and Relevant Concepts According to Brown (1977), Goffiman’s dramaturgical analysis is based on four assumptions — (i) that there is a transfer of meaning from one term to another, (ii) that the analysis is literally absurd, (iii) that it is nevertheless meant to be understood, and (iv) that it is self-consciously “as if” (as cited in Manning, 2005, p. 211). Therefore, the philosophical assumptions of the theory will be derived based on these assumptions. Since Goffman’s presentational self theory is all about dramaturgy, then the epistemological assumption that all human behaviours or practices are ‘performed’ can be established. This assumption meant that any activities, actions, behaviours or conducts at any location at any point in time is a public presentation of the self. In other words, human actions are seen as social performances with the desire to leave impressions on others. ‘The ontological assumption of the presentational self theory is the extend to which the presented self is a natural occurrence of human interaction. This means that the ‘performance’ of the communicator occurs spontaneously and is not purposely scripted and staged as in a play. The axiological assumption of Goffman’s self presentation theory is that ‘performance’ or ‘acts’ of the communicator depends greatly on the cultural and societal values that he or she is in. As such, the activities and behaviours of an individual in front of the public is shaped based on what the society and community say as acceptable. Hence, the a person’s ‘performance’ is guided by the norms of society and community. 2.6 Critiques on the Theory The use of metaphor in research has its strengths and weaknesses besides raising a series of instructive issues. The broad advantages and disadvantages of Goffman’s presentational self theory, as described by Manning (1991, p. 78-79), are as follows: ‘Strengths Weaknesses