Self-presentation can be defined as:
The conscious or unconscious control of the impression that one creates in social interactions or situations. It is one of the important forms of impression management, namely management of one’s own impression on others through role playing (Colman, 2009: 682).
The concept of self-presentation often has negative connotations of superficiality, pretence, deceit, and immoral manipulativeness (Schlenker and Pontari, 2000), yet it has been a popular topic in many scholarly disciplines, including social psychology, sociology, counselling, developmental psychology, and organizational behaviour. The scientific study of self-presentation started with the works of early psychologists and sociologists (James, 1890; Cooley, 1902; Mead, 1934); they stated that people see themselves as they think others see them. So the self is built on reflected appraisals. It is produced in social interaction and reflects other people’s opinions about the individual. According to Cooley, who introduced the concept of a “looking-glass” self (a reflected self),
a person observes how others see him, and afterwards incorporates their views into his self-concept (Tice and Wallace, 2003).
The self arises in the process of the social experience of the individual as a result of his relations with others. The full development of the self depends on the particular attitudes of other individuals toward the individual and the social attitudes of the generalized other or the social group to which he belongs (Mead, 1934). However, as mentioned above, our self-concepts are not constant. They undergo continual change, depending on the situation we are in and the different others we are interacting with. We see ourselves “in the ‘looking glass’ of others’ appraisals and build or construct a self that is congruent with the appraisals of others” (Tice and Wallace, 2003: 92). Thus, significant others (e.g., parents, siblings, relatives, friends, teachers, bosses), or a “generalized other” have a great impact on the person’s form of self (Cooley, 1902; Mead, 1934). Mead, who developed Cooley’s idea of the looking-glass self, claims that generalized others, the whole social group and their views of the person, are extremely important for the formation of the person’s self. The idea of the reflected self was later developed by Goffman (1959) in his book The
Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, in which, using theatrical metaphorization,
he studied how people behave in front of others and “control the impression they form of him” (Goffman, 1959: xi) (see Section 5.2.1.).
Self-presentation is “aimed at establishing, maintaining, or refining an image of the individual in the minds of others” (Baumeister, 1982; cf. Goffman, 1959; Leary and Kowalski, 1990). In other words, it consists in using behaviour to communicate some information about oneself to others. It is one of the most important elements of communication, an underlying motive of many aspects of social behaviour (Goffman, 1959; Baumeister, 1982; Bangerter, 2000; Leary, 2005). Like other acts of communication it is conditioned by social values and interactional norms specific to a particular culture. As mentioned above, it is a type of impression management, which is “the goal-oriented activity of controlling information in order to influence the impressions formed by an audience” (Schlenker, 2003: 492). Self-presentation is a more specific term referring to the control of information about the self (Schlenker and Pontari, 2000).
Self-presentation is a complex activity that is shaped by “a combination of personality, situational, and audience factors” such as:
•
an expression of self,•
a role-played response to situational pressures,•
conformity to the identity expectations of salient others (Schlenker, 2003: 498; Brown, 1998),•
conformity to culture-specific norms of self-presentation (Kuryło and Urban, 1997).So, to present oneself in an effective and positive way, it is not enough to communicate some information about oneself to others and present them with a somewhat glorified picture of the self irrespective of context. Schlenker (1975) stresses the importance of managing the impression of consistency between the individuals’ self-perceptions, their behaviours and the reactions of others to these behaviours in situations in which reality interferes with self-enhancement (e.g., when public events could invalidate an unrealistically positive self-presentation). The presented image of self must be consistent with the role an individual plays in a particular situation and with the expectations, both socially and culturally conditioned, of other participants.
Cooley (1902) and Mead (1934) stress the interplay between the private and the public self. A “true,” “real” or “private” self is constructed through one’s choices and performances. Creating the self is a matter of self-presentation only insofar as it is concerned with establishing and maintaining one’s public self, that is, the image of one in the minds of others (Baumeister, 1982). Usually, it is a slightly polished and glorified picture of the self which is believed by the individual to be true, but sometimes self-presentation may be a little manipulative and result from deceptive activity designed to exploit others (Schlenker, 2003). Thus, self-presentation can involve deceptions about oneself as well as genuine images of oneself (i.e. what one thinks one really is). Leary (2005), however, claims that usually the image presented by us is relatively true.
The two main self-presentational motives are to please others and to construct (create, maintain, and modify) one’s public self congruent with one’s ideal (Baumeister, 1982). Behind these motives there is one fundamental motive of “constructing a desired identity” resulting from the two desires for having positive, socially desirable qualities, and for the approval of others (Schlenker, 2003). In reality, however, self-presentation is often guided by other, more pragmatic, motives.
When self-presentation is treated as a goal-oriented activity, it can be viewed as a transaction rather than a mere expression of self. Then what is at issue is not the individual but his relationship with other people (the audience) (Schlenker, 2003). The results of this presentation are beneficial images which are expected to facilitate the individual’s goals. Such images, although preferably positive and socially desirable, in practice sometimes are socially undesirable or even negative if their being such may facilitate the individual’s goals (Schlenker, 2003).
The extent to which people resort to self-presentation depends on the social context, i.e. on the important others with whom they interact, and the relationship between them and a generally understood situation. The careful presentation of self is especially relevant:
•
to important, evaluative situations that prompt people to behave pretentiously, such as a job interview,•
to formal situations that cue well-established social roles and interaction rituals, such as a wedding,•
to situations in which the actor feels himself to be the centre of an audience’s attention and may experience shyness or stage fright, such as giving a speech (Schlenker and Pontari, 2000: 201).In other conditions, focusing less consciously on the type of impressions they are making on others, people mostly express their genuine qualities. However, there are people who by virtue of their personality characteristics, such as high self-monitoring or public self-consciousness, are more likely to self-present almost all the time (Schlenker and Pontari, 2000). Some self-images resulting from conscious presentation are more desirable than others, as they are associated with beneficial consequences for the person, such as approval, respect, or material rewards; they are called desirable identity images (Schlenker and Pontari, 2000: 204). In other words, desirable identity images refer to what a person “would like to be and thinks he or she really can be” (Leary and Kowalski, 1990: 40).
Self-presentation, especially the kind that is goal-oriented, is “sensitive business” (Holtgraves, 1990: 197) and can create a threat to the individual’s positive self-image (face). In fact, as Goffman (1955: 226) claims, “there is no occasion of talk so trivial as not to require each participant to show serious concern with the way in which he handles himself and the others present.” The end-result of the self-presentation activity is a self-image — face, a complex of positive attributes the individual wants to be associated with and characterized by. These attributes vary with respect to the interpersonal relations the individual has with others, the social situations in which he interacts with them, and the culture he belongs to.