The self III: Self-presentation Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in The self III: Self-presentation Deck (25)
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1
Q

self-presentation tactics

A

“People have an ongoing interest in how others perceive and evaluate them…Political candidates are packaged for the public’s consumption like automobiles or breakfast cereals…Even in relatively mundane encounters at home, work, school, and elsewhere, people monitor others’ reactions to them and often try to convey images of themselves that promote their attainment of desired goals.”

  • (Leary & Kowalski, 1990)
2
Q

self-presentation and impression management

A

Both terms refer to the process via which individuals try to control impressions others form of them

Can the terms be used interchangeably? Some debate, but we will do so here

What factors affect how we self-present to others?

Could be lots, we will focus on two (following Leary & Kowalski, 1990).

3
Q

components of impression management (Leary and Kowalski, 1990)

A

A. Impression motivation: “the desire to create particular impressions in others’ minds” (which may or may not result in actions to achieve these)

B. Impression construction: “once motivated to create certain impressions, people may alter their behaviours to affect others’ impressions of them”

4
Q

A. impression motivation

A

Although we are concerned about how we come across, we don’t always strive to create a certain impression

Situational and dispositional factors interact to determine how much attention people pay to how they come across to others

5
Q

levels of impression monitoring

A

At one extreme – people have no clue about others’ reactions to them

And then…others who have acute public self-awareness (obsessed with how they come across)

But most of the time, we fall somewhere in between…

We process others’ reactions at a pre-attentive or nonconscious level - don’t realise were doing self-presentation techniques – explain how we are or not aware of what we’re doing

6
Q

primary self-presentational motives

A

“At the most general level, the motive to engage in impression management springs from the same motivational source as all behaviour, namely to maximise expected rewards and minimise expected punishments” (Leary & Kowalski, 1990)

7
Q

3 ways in which self-presentational strategies may help promote well-being

A

Social and material outcomes

Self-esteem maintenance – others reactions can raise or lower esteem – want self-esteem enhancing feedback – can be affected by own self-evaluations – meta-thinking perspective

Development of identity – e.g. student identity – maintain identity that fit with roles we have in world

8
Q

antecedents of impression motivation

A

Goal relevance of impressions – influenced by; degree to which behav occurring in public setting, outcome dependency, anticipated future interaction

Value of desired goals – desperation increases desire to self-present in certain way – scare resources – qualities of the other person – power, high status, physically attractive - BUT indv diffs

Discrepancy between desired and current image - bring back sense within framework perceived to be true to ourselves – e.g. failure – stress pos attributes, align ourselves with successful people, self-serving attributions for failure

9
Q

B. impression construction

A

determinants:

intrapersonal

interpersonal

10
Q

intrapersonal determinants

A

Self-concept

Desired and undesired identity images

Overall, public impressions reflect an interplay between self-concept and desired/undesired identity images

11
Q

interpersonal determinants

A

Role constraints

Target values

Current or potential social image

12
Q

self-concept

A

Some things about us we value and are proud to show off (and that is how we think we are) - Cherry picking stuff that is true and downplaying stuff that isn’t true – try and stay within latitude of acceptance

We don’t generally try to be someone completely different (can’t pull it off!)

Most people have internalised ethic about lying (self-distortions are not too extreme)

13
Q

desired/undesired identity images

A

We tend to convey impressions biased in direction of desired identities

We may claim attributes that fit, and try to behave in line

14
Q

role constraints

A

some roles require certain kinds of behaviour (nun, people in power)

Harry and Meghan

not what normally happens

15
Q

target values

A

we are influenced by key others (match their values/preferences)

16
Q

current/potential social image

A

impressions we create are affected by how we think others see us now and in the future

17
Q

so, how do we present ourselves online when we are motivated to find romance?

A

Online dating an increasingly popular choice for finding romance (Egan, 2003) - stats

But… perceived to be rife with deception

86% of online daters think others misrepresent physical appearance (Gibbs et al., 2006)

Is this perception true? Self-report data incomplete

18
Q

self-presentation, romance and deception

A

Initiating relationships…to tell or not to tell?

When you are competing with millions of others’ profiles online, you’d be tempted to lie a little bit, wouldn’t you?

In such settings, self-presentational goals may be very salient

“some daters think of their online dating profiles as resumes, or strategic tools intended for marketing their ‘best’ selves rather than for providing completely candid self representations” (Toma et al, 2007)

19
Q

telling porkies about yourself online

A

Seems inevitable doesn’t it?

Walther (1996) – hyperpersonal model suggests several factors affect deception online

  • Selective self-presentation
  • Asynchronicity
  • Reduction of communication cues
  • Reallocation of cognitive resources
20
Q

on the other hand

A

Recordability – evidence about deception can be preserved (your lies can be stored)

Anticipated future interaction – blatant deception about physical appearance will be revealed (false advertising)

Warranting – connection between real self and given self-presentation (others may know you, and spot your deception)

Possible gender differences? (we shall see)

21
Q

Toma et al. (2007)

A

Online daters invited to lab and asked about accuracy of their profiles and acceptability of deception

Actual height/weight and age assessed (ground truth)

Compared profile info with observed characteristics (making allowances for slight weight/height anomalies)

22
Q

Toma et al. predictions

A

They predicted there would be deception, but only minor (pros and cons)

Gender – expected men to lie about indicators of social status like income, occupation, education (and to say it was acceptable), height

Expected women to lie more about age, weight (and to say it was acceptable)

The more warranting info that is available (photos, known to others) the more accurate profiles should be

23
Q

Toma et al. results

A

81% of participants provided information that deviated from at least one observed characteristic

More lied about weight (60%) than height (48%) or age (19%)

But…no gender differences on these!

Men considered it more acceptable to lie about social status (occupation, education) and relationship status

Warranting – photos and others knowing about their online dating habits led to somewhat more accurate profiles

24
Q

Toma et al. conclusions

A

Most deceptions were subtle (some exceptions!)

Lying was not across the board, but confined to certain characteristics (suggests strategic nature of online deception)

Gender differences on social status deception (as predicted) but women did not report it being more acceptable to lie about weight (and to actually do so)

25
Q

Toma and Hancock (2010)

A

Does attractiveness (or lack of) make you ‘big up’ your physical attractiveness?

Online daters identified deceptions in profiles and had photo taken in lab

Independent judges rated online daters’ physical attractiveness

The less attractive online daters were, more apt they were to lie about physical descriptors (height, weight, age).

Deception confined to physical appearance