LESSON 6 - INTRODUCTION TO UNPACKING THE SELF: POLITICAL SELF AND DIGITAL SELF

I. Digital Self
a. Online Identity
- Digital Identity (DI)

It refers to the persona of an individual uses and presents online. Some maintain one
or more online identities that are distinct from their “real world” selves; others have a
single online self that is more or less the same as the one they inhabit in the real world.

In relation to identity, internet disembodiment refers to the identity, soul or spirit

separate from physical body. According to Turkle (1995), on the internet, people can be
whoever they want to be. They can completely redefine themselves if they want. People
don't look at bodies or hear the access for them to make assumptions. All they see are
the words. What goes online stays online. They are permanent digital footprints.
- Elements of Digital Identity
1. Online behavior – the functional and interpersonal behaviors of people
including social networking, self-representation, pro and anti-social behaviors
(i.e. disinhibition) whilst online. (IGI Global Dictionary Search)
2. Online voice – the perspective or stand of an individual
3. Online presentation – How an individual present their self in the online setting.

When people adopt fake identities, they are likely to engage in behaviors they would not do
in real life interactions or online disinhibition.

The Online Disinhibition Effect (Suler, 2004)

- Dissociative anonymity – “You don’t know me”

also plays a role for online users. People don't have to own their behavior by
acknowledging it within the full context of who "they" really are.
- Invisibility – “You can’t see me”
The power to be concealed go hand in hand with anonymity. It gives people the
courage to go places and do things that they otherwise wouldn’t.
- Asynchronicity – “See you later”
It allows a person to think more carefully about what he/she would like to say
before posting which could help when someone has trouble with face-to-face
interactions.
- Solipsistic Introjection – “It’s all in my head”
A notion that is only in their heads or mind when people don't know what a
virtual person looks or sounds like, people tend to assign traits to those individuals
which is an imaginary interaction with the introjected character.
- Dissociative imagination – “It’s just a game”
For them, identity online is just a game. how people act in a fantasy game is not
always how people act in the real world.
- Minimizing Authority – “We’re equals”
 The internet itself is engineered with no centralized control. It is a place where
everyone is equal, and peers share ideas and resources. The presence of “authority” is
minimized thus people are much more willing to speak out or misbehave.

b. Selective self-presentation and impression management

- Self-presentation is a range of strategies that people adopt to shape what
others think of them.
1. Self-promotion. The person who is using self-promotion is trying to
show that he/she is competent effective or a winner.
2. Ingratiation. The person is using ingratiation in presenting oneself to
others has a desire to be likable. The expect affection.
3. Exemplification. The person who is using exemplification has an
intention to achieve worth from others. He/she expects others to feel
guilty by their actions.
4. Intimidation. The person who is using intimidation tries to appear
dangerous or ruthless. He/she expects others to be afraid of them.
5. Supplication. The person using supplication, would like to appear
helpless (handicapped or unfortunate). He/she aims to achieve
nurturance from others.
- Self-enhancement refers to the tendency to think oneself in Favorable light,
whereas impression management refers to a deliberate attempt to distort one's
response to create a favorable impression with others.
c. Boundaries of the self-online
- Personal Boundaries are the set of guidelines, rules, or limits that a person
creates to identify reasonable, safe, and permissible ways for people to behave
towards them ang how they respond in case someone breaks these rules or
overstep the limits.

Private vs. Public

Public Self

- the part of an individual which they decided to show the world. What the person wants
the people around them to see. It is human nature to change behavior in different
setting (Nicholson, 1998).

Private Self

- The way a person act when alone or when with people they are comfortable with. It is
the true self of a person or personal emotions, morals, and others they hide from most
people.
o In many online environment people cannot see others. Nobody can
judge the statements and images because of the cloak of invisibility. In
the public mode, the post will be treated as open book. Because of
security, many online users are using the private mode. Invisibility is
 also gauge to misinterpret oneself. A man may represent himself as a
woman and vice versa.
o Social Identity is usually based on group affiliation. Like in social media
many people identify themselves as member of a certain group so that
it will be easy for them to communicate their concerns or issues. But
there is a paradigm shift with regards to identity. In the modern era
(enlightenment through 20th century), identity is described as fixed,
stable and unitary. In the post-modern period (now), identity is
considered as fluid, multiple and socially constructed.
o In Sociology, identity theory (Stryker, 1980) explained that individuals
have "role identities." It is the character and the role of an individual
devises as an occupant of a particular social position. “Self" is
hierarchical ordering of identities by salience. The greater the
commitment on an identity, the greater the salience of the identity.
Sailence of identity influence behavioral choices in a situation.
o Gender intensification hypothesis states that psychological and
behavioral differences between boys and girls become greater during
early adolescence because of increased socialization pressure to
conform to masculine and feminine gender roles (Santrock, 2014).

Suler, J. (2004). John Suler's The Psychology of Cyberspace. Retrieved from True Center Publishing:
https://truecenterpublishing.com/psycyber/disinhibit.html#status

Nicholson N. (1998). How hardwired is human behavior?. Harvard business review, 76(4), 134–147.