Social Psychology Chapter 4 - Self Presentation

Self-Presentation

process through which we try to control impressions people form of us

When do we self present?

• when we perceive we are in the public eye

• when others can influence whether or not we reach our goals

• when those goals are important to us

• when we think observers have impressions of us that are different from the ones we desire

• when we are high in self-monitoring

Public Self-Consciousness

degree to which people believe others pay attention to them

• contributes to the spotlight effect

Spotlight effect

the idea that our own personal actions are more noticeable to others than they really are

• Cornell students asked to sit in room w. 5 other subjects while wearing Barry Manilow t shirt. student who wore shirt overestimated how many people noticed the shirt.

Self-monitoring

tendency to be chronically concerned with one’s public image & to adjust one’s actions to fit current situation

high self monitors are:

• inconsistent across situations

• good at assessing what others want and tailoring their behaviour to fit those demands

low self monitors:

• look inside themselves to decide how to act

• don’t change as much across situations

Social anxiety

fear of self-presentational failure

Goals of Self-presentation

• be seen as likeable

• be seen as competent

• convey status and power

To appear likeable, we use “Ingratiation”

an attempt to get others to like us

• opinion conformity as an ingratiation strategy

  • experiment with women at princeton. they anticipated interacting with a man who was either highly desirable or not highly desirable, and who held either traditional or untraditional views of women. women then filled out questionnaires for the male students to look at, including one reporting their own attitudes about gender roles. women about to interact with the undesirable man did not shift their opinions. women about to interact with the desirable man adjusted opinions to match his more closely.

  • findings indicate that:

  • people realise that other people like those who are similar to them

  • people sometimes change their public opinions to get desirable others to like them

To appear likeable, we “express liking for others”

by using verbal flattery or nonverbal behaviours (e.g. smiling & mimicking their behaviour)

• in an experiment, researchers primed ½ participants w. goal of being liked. led ½ in each group (primed and not primed) to fail at achieving an affiliative goal (other person ignored them). people with goal of being liked, who’d recently failed at their goal, were most likely to mimic another’s foot-shaking behaviour.

To appear likeable, we “make ourselves physically attractive”

attractive people receive many benefits:

• seen as more honest

• more likely to be hired for managerial positions & elected to public office

• shorter sentences for felonies

realising this, most people try to make themselves more attractive

• people in the US spend $6+ billion a year on diet foods and weight loss programs

• in 2004, Americans had approximately 11.9mil cosmetic procedures ($16bil in 2016). In S Korea it’s about $5bil.

To appear likeable, we “project modesty”

cultural differences in modesty:

• compared to european americans, african americans more tolerant of bragging (but only if justified)

• asian americans most likely to project modesty 

Gender differences in appearing likeable

Women are more likely to:

• smile

• compliment others

• agree with others

• present selves modestly

Women are more Agreeable

• one explanation stresses socialisation

  • women may get more social rewards for being agreeable

  • girls become more nonverbally agreeable as they move through adolescence and learn social expectations

• another explanation stresses biology/physiology

  • Testosterone: hormone present in both sexes but in much greater quantities in males. women have lower levels of hormones that may incline men to be more disagreeable, confrontational and smile less

To appear competent, we use “Self-promotion”

an attempt to get others to see us as competent

To appear competent, we use “Staging Performances”

successes are sometimes overlooked, so we may seek opportunities to stage performances or demonstrate our competence in public.

people who are incompetent at something will avoid public stagings.

To appear competent, we use “Claiming Competence”

claims of competence are appropriate:

• when they are invited (e.g. at job interviews)

• when they are second-hand (e.g. if friend talk us up or if we show people letters of recommendation)

people rarely just tell others about their abilities as:

• it interferes with projecting modesty

• commonly held belief that people who are truly competent don’t need to claim it

To appear competent, we use “the Trappings of Competence”

good self-promoters often surround themselves with the props and habits of competence, such as:

• waiting to return our phone calls

• wearing clothes associated with competence

To appear competent, we “Make Excuses or Claim Obstacles”

• people make excuses (e.g. feeling sick) and claim obstacles (e.g. bad internet connection) after a poor performance or before a potentially poor performance

To appear competent, we “Make Excuses or Claim Obstacles : Self-handicapping”

withdrawing effort or creating actual obstacles to one’s future successes

ways people self-handicap:

• not practicing or preparing

• consuming alcohol

• taking condition-impairing drugs

• choosing unattainable goals

• giving competitors a performance advantage 

Competence motivation

the desire to perform effectively

Shyness

tendency to feel tense, worried, or awkward in novel social situations and with unfamiliar people

shy people have lower competence motivation

To convey status, we “Display the Artifacts of Status and Power”

display items that indicate status (e.g. certificates, trophies)

To convey status, we use “Conspicuous Consumption”

people often display status via:

• spending lavishly on houses, automobiles & jewelry

• giving away & wasting money

• being generally wasteful, to point of damaging environment

To convey status, we “Bask in Reflected Glory”

broadcasting associations w. successful, high-status others

To convey status, we “Cut off Reflected Failure”

distancing selves from unsuccessful, low-status others

To convey status, we use “Non-verbal dominance”

Body language

• popular term for non-verbal behaviours like facial expressions, posture, body orientation & hand gestures

compared to low-status people, high-status people are more likely to:

• maintain eye contact when speaking

• pay less attention when listening

• interrupt others

• place themselves in positions of prominence

• touch others and enter others’ personal space

Gender differences in Conveying Status

men, more than women, focus on displaying status and power 

• men are socialised to present themselves as dominant, and learn that women prefer dating dominant men

• biology and evolution also play crucial role

  • females in many animal species choose to mate with males best able to provide food, territory, etc

  • men who have higher levels of testosterone are more aggressive

The Self Presentational Dilemma of Aspiring Women

women face an especially difficult self-presentational dilemma: women who display their status and power are frequently disliked by both men and women