SELF

How we present all the times is quite an important topic of research in Social Psychology. Also,
considering various methods people use to gain self-knowledge, examine whether people have one
self all the time or different selves.

Movie- to die for…not anybody in America unless you are on TV. On TV is where we learn about who
we really are. Being on internet is same as on TV.

Facebook- the ones on it feel alive and the ones who are not are being excluded from an important
group- and represent a kind of social death

The thing about death and the Facebook legacy. Maintain the memories and all. Way to keep the
person in spirit and heart

Virtual constructed environment but self and identity can be readily observed there.

The nature of self and how we think and feel about ourselves have been central topics of research in
social psychology. Internet technology and impact on self.

Self-Presentation: Managing the self in different social contexts

Self-Presentation Tactics- We tend to ensure that others form impressions of us based on our most
favourable self-aspect that is Self-Promotion. If we want others to think that we are smart, we tend
to emphasise on those traits only like grades, marks, credentials etc. If we want others to know how
fun we are, we tend to focus on those traits which showcase us in ”party light” like number of
parties we attend, number of friends who call us for get together, number of sleepovers, numbers of
concerts we attended etc. If we say that we are really good at something, people will believe us and
even then, that can help us to convince ourselves too.

Self Verification view when it comes to ourselves as well. We might not be good at maths, no athletic
body and soo on…we will want people to subscribe to what we feel about ourselves rather than
what is not even though that is really encouraging and positive. We want people to verify to our
views about ourselves rather than with those who fail to verify our dearly held self views about
ourselves eventhough they are flattering.

Introspection- Looking Inward behaviour to discover causes of our own behaviour

More a person thinks about the self, more chances he will have greater understanding of self. Self
help books and all helping us out in those terms

1st of all we should note that we don’t know or have conscious access to the reasons for our actions.
Why we acted that way---looking for answers to this will lead us to false conclusions. Why do I like
my partner over others? Why do I like this band over others? On thinking about these and
introspecting the reasons of particular feelings, people change their attitudes, at least temporarily to
match their stated reasons. This can lead to regrettable choices because original feelings based on
other factors are still there.

Introspection- can mislead us as well. If we are not in particular situation, we might not be able to
make meaningful inferences about it. What ifs tend to play their fair share over here. When asked
why they do whatever they tend to do, those reasons maybe based on the self theories about our
own behaviour. Gaining insights into it can be really helpful but still tricky.
Self from other person’s viewpoint- Method Acting- feel as if you are this person.

Standard Acting- put a performance so that you appear to others as though you are this person.

All the world is a stage and we are merely players. We all face with the task of presentation of
ourselves to a variety of audiences, and we play different roles in different context. We choose to
reveal a lot about who we think we are—including photographic evidence of our own behaviour. But
how can we really control what others learn about us and the inferences that we draw based on that
information?

Self-Other Accuracy in Predicting our behaviour

We know ourselves the best because no one else has power to look inside our brains. For this reason
alone, it seems intuitively obvious that it must be case that we know ourselves best—but it is true?

The presentation of self in everyday life- erving Goffman