Chap4 behavior control

Copyright © 2002 by Allyn and Bacon

Chapter 4

Behavior Control and

Self-Presentation


Chapter Outline

What is Self-Presentation?

Goals of Self-Presentation

Appearing Likable

Appearing Competent

Conveying High Status and

Power


WHAT IS

SELF-PRESENTATION?


WHAT IS

SELF-PRESENTATION?

• Self presentation - the process

through which we try to control the

impressions people form or us.

• Self presentation is synonymous with

impression management.


Considering only your physical

appearance, do you look:

• Socially dominant

• Kind and understanding

• Aggressive

• Intelligent

• Conscientious1= not at all

9 = very much


To what extent do you make a

conscious effort to present yourself

in terms of:

• clothing

• physical body

• way you carry yourself

• hair

• car1= not at all

9 = very much


To what extent do you make a

conscious effort to present yourself

in terms of:

• apartment/house/your room

1= not at all

9 = very much

• friends

• organizations/clubs

• other?


WHAT IS

SELF-PRESENTATION?

• WHY do people self present?

• WHEN do people self present?

• The Nature of Self Presentation


WHY DO PEOPLE

SELF-PRESENT?

• To acquire desirable resources

• To help “construct” our self-images

• To enable our social encounters to run more smoothly.


Dramaturgical perspective- the

perspective that much of social

interaction can be thought of as a play,

with actors performances, settings,

scripts, props, roles, and so forth.

WHY DO PEOPLE

SELF-PRESENT?


WHEN DO PEOPLE

SELF-PRESENT?

• When we think others are paying attention to us.

• 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.


The Spotlight Effect:

Cornell students were asked

to sit in room with five other

subjects while wearing a

Barry Manilow t-shirt.

esearch



The student who wore the

shirt then predicted how

many of the other students

in the room could recall and

identify who was on the shirt

esearch



The students who wore the t-shirt predicted that nearly half of the others would know who was on the shirt.

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Predicted Actual Control

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In reality, less than a quarter of the other

subjects recalled who was on the shirt.

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%


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Control students who watched the subjects on video closely predicted how many students would identify the shirt.

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%


esearch


WHEN DO PEOPLE

SELF-PRESENT?

Public self-consciousness - the tendency to have a chronic awareness of oneself as being in the public eye.


WHEN DO PEOPLE

SELF-PRESENT?

Self Monitoring - the tendency to be chronically concerned with one’s public image and to adjust one’s actions to fit the needs of the current situation


In deciding how to behave in a

given situation, do you:

• Examine your own attitudes,

feelings, and opinions?

• Consider what other people

expect of you and act

accordingly?

• Are you good at acting?

1= not at all

9 = very much


Self-monitoring

High self-monitors:

• Inconsistent across situations.

• Good at assessing what others want and

tailoring their behavior to fit those demands.

Low self-monitors:

• Look inside themselves to decide how to act.

• Don’t change as much across situations.


THE NATURE OF

SELF-PRESENTATION

• Self presentation is sometimes deceptive, but usually not.

• More often, our self-presentations

focus on emphasizing our strengths

and minimizing our weaknesses.

• Because trust is necessary in social

relationships, people go to great

lengths to detect liars.


Think of an embarrassing moment

you’ve had

Was it linked to:

• Appearing unlikable

• Appearing incompetent

• Appearing weak

• Other?


Goals of Self-presentation

• To be seen as likeable (ingratiation)

• To be seen as competent (self-promotion)

• To be seen as powerful (intimidation)


The Goal: Appearing Likeable

Ingratiation: An attempt to get

others to like us.


Goal:

To appear

likeable

Express Liking for

Others


Expressing Liking for Others

We express our liking for

others using both verbal

flattery and nonverbal

behaviors such as smiling.


Goal:

To appear

likeable

Express Liking for

Others

Create Similarity


esearchCreating Similarity

Opinion Conformity as

an Ingratiation Strategy.

How likely are you to change your

opinions to agree with someone

else?

Would you be more likely to agree

with someone who’s attractive?





In an experiment conducted by Mark

Zanna and Susan Pack (1975),

women anticipated interacting with

a man who was either:

1. Highly Desirable

2. Not Highly Desirable





And who held either:

1. Traditional views of women

(believing the ideal woman to be

a passive, emotional homebody)

2. Untraditional views of women

(believing the ideal woman to be

independent and ambitious)





The women then filled out

questionnaires for the

male student to look at,

including one reporting

their own attitudes about

gender roles.


Opinion Conformity:

Women about to interact with the undesirable man did not shift their opinions.

5.0

4.0

3.0

2.0

1.0

0.0 Desirable

Man


Amount of

Attitude

Conformity

(Shift toward

man’s views)0.0

Undesirable

Man


Opinion Conformity:

However, women about to interact with the desirable man adjusted their opinions to match his more closely.

5.0

4.0

3.0

2.0

1.0

0.0 Undesirable

Man

Desirable

Man


Amount of

Attitude

Conformity

(Shift toward

man’s views)0.0

3.7



These findings demonstrate

that people sometimes

change their public

opinions to get desirable

others to like them


Goal:

To appear

likeable

Express Liking for

Others

Create Similarity

Make Ourselves

Physically Attractive


Making Ourselves


Attractive people receive many

benefits, including:

–They are seen as more honest.

–They are more likely to be hired for

managerial positions and elected

to public office.

–They receive shorter sentences for

felonies.


Making Ourselves


Realizing this, most people try to

make themselves more attractive.

– In 1999, Americans had approximately

4.6 million plastic surgeries.

–Over 4 million Americans currently wear

braces or other orthodontic devices.

–People in the U.S. spend $33 billion a

year on diet foods, weight loss

programs, and health club

memberships.


Goal:

To appear

likeable

Express Liking for

Others

Create Similarity

Make Ourselves

Physically AttractiveProject Modesty


Projecting modesty

Cultural differences in modesty:

African Americans most tolerant

of bragging.

Asian Americans most likely to

project modesty.


Appearing likeable

Sex differences in likeability:

Women more likely to:

• Smile

• Compliment others

• Agree with others

• Present themselves modestly


Appearing likeable

Why are women more agreeable?

One explanation stresses socialization -

women may get more social rewards

for being agreeable

Girls become more nonverbally

agreeable as they move through

adolescence and learn social

expectations.


Appearing likeable

Why are women more agreeable?

Another explanation stresses biology -

women have lower levels of

hormones that may incline men to be

more disagreeable and

confrontational.


Appearing likeable

Testosterone: A hormone present in

both males and females – but

usually in much greater quantities

in males – responsible for important

aspects of sexual development.

People with higher levels are more

confrontational and smile less.


Appearing likeable

We are generally interested in

being liked by people with whom

we want to start or maintain a

friendship and by people who are

in positions of power.


Multiple Audience Dilemmas

We sometimes find ourselves in

circumstances in which we want to

be liked by multiple audiences, who

differ in what they value.

Multiple audience dilemma: situation

in which a person needs to present

different images to different people,

often at the same time.

Appearing likeable


Multiple Audience Dilemmas

We try to manage these dilemmas by:

Appearing likeable

Segregating the audiences

Moderating our presentations

Presenting different messages on

different communication channels

Texturing messages so they mean

different things to the different

audiences


The Goal: To Appear Competent

Self-promotion: An attempt to get

others to see us as competent.


Goal:

To Appear

Competent

Staging Performances



Because successes are sometimes

overlooked we may seek

opportunities to stage

performances, or demonstrate

our competence in public.

Conversely, people who are

incompetent at something will

avoid public stagings.

Appearing competent


Goal:

To Appear

Competent

Staging PerformancesClaiming Competence


Claiming Competence

People rarely just tell others about

their abilities. Why?

– Interferes with projecting modesty

– Commonly held belief that people

who are truly competent don’t need

to claim it.

Appearing competent


Claiming Competence

However, claims off 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)

Appearing competent


Goal:

To Appear

Competent

Using the Trappings

of Competence

Staging PerformancesClaiming Competence


Using the Trappings of Confidence

Good self-promoters often surround

themselves with the props and

habits of competence, such as:

– waiting to return our phone calls

– carrying cell-phones and pagers

– wearing clothes associated with

competence

Appearing competent


Goal:

To Appear

Competent

Using the Trappings

of Competence


Making Excuses or

Claiming Obstacles

Claiming Competence


Making Excuses and

Claiming Obstacles

• Follows from the discounting and

augmenting principles (chap. 3)

• Some people go so far as to create

real obstacles.

Appearing competent


Making Excuses and

Claiming Obstacles

Self-handicapping: The behavior of

withdrawing effort or creating

obstacles to one’s future effort.

Appearing competent


Making Excuses and

Claiming Obstacles

Ways people self-handicap:

– Taking condition-impairing drugs

– Not practicing

– Consuming alcohol

– Choosing unattainable goals

– Giving competitors a performance

advantage

Appearing competent


Competence Motivation

and Shyness

Competence motivation: The desire to

perform effectively

Shyness: The tendency to feel tense,

worried, or awkward in novel social

situations and with unfamiliar people

Appearing competent



and ShynessCompared to shy people, socially

confidant individuals are

especially likely to promote

themselves:

– after their reputations have been

shaken by failure

– but not if their true competence can

be easily checked by others

Appearing competent



and Shyness

Also, self-promoters often create a

social environment in which others

feel compelled to self promote.

Appearing competent


Situations which increase the

desire for competence

Competitive settings such as

workplaces, classrooms, and

athletic fields.

Recent failures increase the desire

for competence.

Appearing competent


Goal:

To Convey

Status

Display Artifacts of

Power


Displaying the Artifacts of

Status and Power

• Doctors, CEOs, and other

powerful people have items which

indicate their position (waiting

rooms, fancy desks, etc.)

• Some people misappropriate these

items to gain respect.

Conveying status


Goal:

To Convey

Status


PowerConspicuous

Consumption


Conspicuous Consumption

People often display their status

through:

– Spending lavishly on houses,

automobiles, and burial chambers

– Giving away and wasting money

– Being generally wasteful, even to the

point of damaging the environment

Conveying status


Goal:

To Convey

Status

Basking in Reflective

Glory


PowerConspicuous

Consumption

Cutting off reflected

failure


Personal Associations

Basking in reflected glory: The

process of presenting our

associations with successful, high-

status others and events.

Cutting off reflected failure: The

process of distancing ourselves from

unsuccessful, low-status others or

events.

Conveying status


Goal:

To Convey

Status

Basking in Reflective

Glory


Power

Non-verbal

dominance

Conspicuous

Consumption

Cutting off reflected

failure


Status and Power and

Nonverbal Expressions

Body language: The popular term for

non-verbal behaviors like facial

expressions, posture, body

orientation, and hand gestures.

Conveying status


Status and Power and

Nonverbal ExpressionsCompared to low-status people, high-

status people are more likely to:

Conveying status

– 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, Status, and Power

Men, more than women, focus on

displaying status and power.

Conveying status

– Men are socialized to present themselves

as dominant and learn that girls prefer

dating dominant men.


Gender, Status, and Power

Men, more than women, focus on

displaying status and power.

Conveying status

– Biology also plays 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 present their status

and power are frequently

disliked by both men and women.

Conveying status


Threats to Personal and

Material Resources

People are most likely to present

themselves as having high status

and power when:

– Existing resources are threatened.

– Newly available resources lie

unclaimed.

Conveying status


Different Strategies for

Different Audiences

Men present differently to other

men than to women.

– Less likely to be violent in front of

women

– More likely to buy charity raffle

tickets, etc. in front of women.

Conveying status


Summary


• Gender

Goal:

Appearing Likeable

Factors in the Person


• Audiences of Potential Friends

• Audiences of Power-Holders

Goal:

Appearing Likeable

Factors in the Situation


The values held by multiple

audiences interact to influence

how people get others to like

them.

Goal:

Appearing Likeable

Interactions

Continued


If everyone in the audience holds the same values, people can readily sculpt their self-presentations to conform with them.

Goal:

Appearing Likeable

Interactions

Continued


When the audience is composed of people having differing and incompatible values, more creative ingratiation tactics are necessary.

Goal:

Appearing Likeable

Interactions


• Competence Motivation

• Shyness

Goal:

Appearing Competent



• Competence Settings

• Impending or Actual Failure

Goal:

Appearing Competent



Compared to shy people, socially confident individuals promote themselves in exaggerated ways after their public reputation for competence has been shaken by failure but not if their true competence can be easily checked by others.

Goal:

Appearing CompetentInteractions

Continued


Self promoters create social environments in which others feel compelled to self-promote as well.

Goal:

Appearing CompetentInteractions


• Gender

Goal:

Conveying Status and Power



• Competition for Existing Resources

• Availability of Unclaimed Resources

Goal:




The gender of the presenter interacts with the gender of the audience to determine which tactics work best to convey images of status and power.

Men typically use more direct, physical tactics when presenting to men than to women.

Goal:


Interactions

Education

Chap4 behavior control