Impression

Management and
Self-Presentation
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There will be time, there will be

time, to prepare a face to meet the
faces that you meet.
-T.S. Eliot, The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufock
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○ It is a behavior used to create and maintain desired

images of the self (Gardner & Martinko, 1988). In other
Impression words, Impression Management is a process through
Management which individuals attempt to influence the impressions
other people form of them.

○ It is also called self-presentation, refers to the process

by which individuals attempt to control the impressions
others form of them
 Individuals use different techniques for boosting their image
which generally fall into two categories:

1.) Self-enhancement- make use of specific strategies to bend

the truth and enhance one’s own appeal.

2.) Other-enhancement- tactics used play an important role in

generating liking for the person responsible for them
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Is an important universal trend for all individuals and

Impression managing these impressions affects one’s life deeply (Sallot,
Formation 2002).

We humans seem motivated not only to perceive ourselves

in self-enhancing ways but also to present ourselves to
others in desired ways. How might our tactics of “Impression
Management” lead to false modesty or self-defeating
behavior.
 Jones & Pittman offered five strategies of impression management. Use of a particular strategy
depends on what attribution the first party is seeking form the second party.

• Self- Promotion
• Ingratiation, whereby individuals do favors or use flattery to elicit an attribution of likability from
observers.
• Exemplification, whereby people self-sacrifice or go above and beyond the call of duty in order to
gain the attribution of dedication from observers.
• Intimidation, where people signal their power or potential to punish in order to be seen as
dangerous by observers
• Supplication, where individuals advertise their weaknesses or shortcomings in order to elicit an
attribution of being needy from observer. 6
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Self- Presentation
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SELF-PRESENTATION

Refers to how people attempt to present themselves to control or

shape how others (called audience) view them. It involves expressing
oneself and behaving in ways that create a desired impression. Self-
presentation is part of a broader set of behaviors called impression
management. It also refers specifically to information about the self. It
is an act of expressing oneself and behaving in ways designed to
create a favorable impression or an impression that corresponds to
one’s ideals.
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People have an ongoing interest in how others perceive and

evaluate them. Each year, Americans spend billions of dallars on
diets, cosmetics, and plastic surgery– all intended to make them
more attractive to others.

Parents stress to their children the importance of first impressions

and, when trying to control public misbehaviors, may admonish
them to consider “what the neighbors will think.”
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Self- presentational concerns also lead people

to engage in behaviors that enhance their
appearance to others but simultaneously
jeopardize their own physical well-being.
(Leary, Tchividijian & Kraxberger)
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Erving Goffman
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Goffman noted that social life is highly structured. In
some cases, this structure is formalized, but most
often it is informal and tacitly understood.

Among these norms is one that mandates that people

support, rather than undermine, one another’s
public identities. Goffman refers to these efforts
as face work.

Each participant in an interaction is obliged to honor

and uphold the other person’s public persona.
Toward this end, people may misinterpret
themselves or otherwise refrain from saying what
they really think or feel.
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Self- serving bias False modesty

Self-serving bias - The tendency to “Humility is often but a
& False modesty perceive oneself trick whereby pride
favorably. abases itself only to
exalt it alter.”
- La Rochefoucauld,
Maxims, 1665
 False Modesty
People sometimes present a different self than they feel.
Perhaps you may hear when sometimes an individual is not
self-praising but self- disparaging. Such putdowns can be
subtly self-serving, for often they elicit reassuring “strokes.”

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 Self-
Handicapping
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Is an act of protecting oneself image with

behaviors that create a handy excuse for
Self-
failure.
Handicapping

Sometimes people destroy their chances for

chances by creating impediments that
make success less likely. It may sound self-
destructive but such behavior typically
have a self-protective aim.
Researchers have documented other ways in which people 17
self-handicap. Fearing failure, people will:

• Report feeling depressed (Baumgardner, 1991)

• Reduce their preparation for important individual athletic
events (Rodewalt, et. Ak, 1984)
• Perform poorly at the beginning of a task in order not to
create unreachable expectations (Baumgardner &
Brwonlww, 1987)
• Give their opponents an advantage by giving their best
against their opponrnts’ and yet losing against them would
make people feel inadequate (Shepperd & Arkin, 1991)
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Thanks!
Now, let’s move on to, The Digital Self: Self and Other in
Cyberspace