Impression Formation


The Self - the totality of an individual, consisting of all characteristic attributes, conscious or unconscious, mental AND physical.


Self-concept - a collection of beliefs an individual possesess about themselves + their behaviors.

  • the cognitive self

  • an individual’s understanding of who they are + how they chose to represent themselves.

  • How you look and sound and how you express yourself


ex: someone who is racist is part of their identity, but do not idenify themselves as racist (in the negative connotation it has).


Things we use to shape our SELF-CONCEPT

5 Things That Describe Me (Nouns Only):

  1. Woman (feminine) — gender identity/sex, gender presentation

  2. (College) Student — occupation

  3. Artist — hobby

  4. MCAS

  5. Quiet — sociability

  6. Alternative; piercings — subculture

  7. 19 years old — age

  8. Atheist — religious beleifs

  9. White Ukrainian American — race ethnicity nationality

  10. Youngest — familial relations

  11. Single — relationship status

  12. LGBTQ+ — sexuality/sexual orientation/identity


Social Identity Theory: our self-concept as shaped through our understanding of in-groups and out-groups.

  • how we understand ourselves by comparing ourselce to others who aren’t or are like us.


Social Comparison Theory: formulating our self-concept through an evaluation of self-concept in relation to others in our social environment.



Self-awareness - an individual capable of fixing their own attention on their own self-concept.

  • someone’s who’s consciousness is capable of putting attention on what their self (concept) is.

  • babie’s looking in the mirror and realizing it’s themselves.

  • earliest memories at like 4-6yrs = awareness also develops then


Self-consciousnessness - when an individual’s self-concept becomes highly accessible because of concerns about being observed and judged by others.

  • middle school era

Perceived authenticity

  • filters

  • cringe


Behavioral residue: breadcrumbs of who we are across what we do.


Consensus realtity: your version of reality vs everyone else’s version of reality.


Agency: to make your own choices and effect consequences based on those choices.

AI is going Terminator.



Personality diagnostic- Trait theory of personality: an individual’s personality is made up of a broad spectrum of established characteristics, or traits, that underlie the behaviors exhibited by that individual.

  • our personalities are made up of our traits


The Big 5 Personality Traits:

(cannot explain or predict personality)


  1. Agreeableness - tend to be sympathetic, kind, helpful, and warm


  1. Conscientiousness - ethical, responsible, and high self-monitor

self-monitor: the way in which we infer how to make adjustments to ourselves/how to change.


  1. Extraversion - outgoing, talkative, prefers the company of other people


  1. Neuroticism - tend to be anxious, preoccupied, and self-conscious


  1. Openness - curious, original, and imaginative/inventive

                                    high: enjoy trying new things all the time.

                                low: know what they like and stick to it.



Warranting - information that connects a person’s online identity to their physical, real-world, self.

  • Cues that an observer uses to gauge the accuracy of a person's given information.

  • Warranting suggests that in the presence of anonymity, a person may potentially misrepresent information about his or her self.

  • High warrant information is information difficult to manipulate, fabricate, or control.

  • Low warrant information is information easily manipulated by the individual themselves (like updates they control when + what to send, profiles, and pictures)



Narcissism - a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy that begins by early adulthood and is present in a variety of contexts.

  1. Grandoise sense of self importance

                ~ Exaggerates achievments and expects ot be recognized as superior


  1. Preoccupied with fantasies of great/unlimited wealth, power, beauty, brilliance, success, and importance.


  1. Must believe that they are special/unique and henceforth only associate with other special /unique people.

                ~ Excluding others bc they’re not good enough.

                ~ Must always be provided the best services (doctors, hotels, food, etc.)