Soc30 Chapter 9: Impression Formation and Management

Implicit Personality Theory

(Sedikides & Anderson, 1994): making assumptions about additional characteristics without explicitly evidence (aka belief that certain traits go together more than others) ; ex: classmate tells you professor is laid back and funny, you assume he is friendly We hold implicit theories that certain traits go with certain behaviors Traits are clustered and how these are clustered inform generalized impressions of others

3 Different Tactics of Impression Management

ALL IN ALL CREATING BARRIERS REDUCE OUR WILLINGNESS TO PUSH OURSELVES ON TASK ; Strategic Self-Presentation + Self-Monitoring + Self-Handicapping

Two Component Model of Impression Management

Impression Management: GOAL-DIRECTED BEHAVIOR ; Mark Leary and Robin Kowalski say our efforts to manage impressions have 2 components: 1. Motivation and 2. Construction

How it Occurs in Everyday Life

Job Description Open: job applicants prefer advertisements wording CONSISTENT with their own gender ; Description A uses female gendered words, Description B uses male gendered words Interactions prior to formal interview and formal interview to test knowledge is equally influence perceptions WELL WRITTEN JOB ADVERTISEMENT SHOULD EXCLUDE GENDERED LANGUAGE

How Impression Formation and Management Occur in Digital Age

Warranting: process in which we judge the behavior of others based on info that cannot b easily manipulated or controlled by person being judged (ex: likes, comments from other viewers) - With high degree of impression management w internet dating there is risk of 1. Inauthentic 2. Intentionally deceptive - Couples who meet online less likely to break up and stay married longer than those meet in person

Tactics of Impression Management: Self-Monitoring

ability to observe and control our behaviors and self-presentation to suit different situations and audiences (high self monitors primary concern is to address what others think about them and give the best impression) (low self monitors remain consistent in how they might behave in different situations, more inward facing and less concerned about what others think of them)

Tactics of Impression Management: Strategic Self-Presentation

actions goal-driven because want to gain influence, trust, acceptance even sympathy ; knowing impressions keep us in a better position to achieve our goals 1. Integratiation: conveying interest in others by means of praise or flattery (get others to like you) ex: researching abt job before interview 2. Exemplification: individuals self-sacrifice in order to over-perform so as to be seen as dedicated and hardworking ex: after being hired going above and beyond 3. Self-promotion: individuals highlight their positive attributes with the purpose of presenting an image of competence (place focus on your strengths and abilities) ex: as job seeker would look for job that highlight their strengths Self-promotion and ingratiation used by interviewees

impression formation and management...

are simultaneous, active and interactive processes

Having mixture of several positive traits will

decrease likability

Information Integration Theory:

impression formation is driven by averaging of trait information rather than summing of trait information Norman Anderson (1968) asked raters to judge how desirable they found 555 traits on scale from 0 to 6 ; Can make ratings either through 1. Sum (add up) all info or 2. Average the info Anderson concludes that people combine trait information using an average Effect of adding is to make rating more moderate (ex: adding more traits results in more moderate rating for negative and positive traits, more traits added = ratings become less negative) One positive trait will lead to most favorable evaluation

"Thin Slices Behavior"

impressions formed based on very brief exposures to others ; closely match impressions formed after much longer exposure times Nalini Ambady and Robert Rosenthal (1993); asked participants to watch 3 10 second silent video clips of teachers ; then asked to rate teachers on how accepting, confident, etc. they perceived each to be Discovered these rating were consistent from before and after taking course with teacher and ACCURATE Gul Gunaydin: thin slices behavior can be even thinner than 10 second video clips ; completed experiment where subjects were given photograph, rated the person, then interacted with the photographed person and rated them again = strong photograph-live interaction association AKA higher rating s of photograph likeability were associated with higher ratings of likability following live interaction a month later

Having mixture of several negative traits will

increase likeability

Impression Management: 2. Impression Construction:

know the kind of impression we want others to have + be able to construct this 3 variables that affect kinds of impressions we construct: ALL SUGGEST IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT IS PLANNED AND STRATEGIC BC HELPS US REACH IMPORTANT GOALS 1. Self-concept: ppl want to manage impressions others have of characteristics that are important to their self-concept (ex: honestly is important to your self concept = this is the impression you wanna manage) 2. Motivated to construct images consistent with important roles they hold (ex: nurse motivated to construct nurturing impressions) 3. Constructing impressions important to others we value (ex: if partner values honesty, will create impressions that is showcase honesty)

Impression Management: 1. Impression Motivation:

meeting people for first time is when we are motivated to make good impression , or ex: not motivated if w/ same person 2 yrs go on a date Factors that influence our motivation to impress 1. Goal-directed behavior: we engage when it facilitates achievement of a goal ; More valuable outcome, stronger the motivation 2.When there is a difference between current image others have a person and image that person would like others to have (ex: getting publicly embarasses, feel need to repair their appearance)

Impression Management: Front Stage Behavior

occurs in settings with an audience where we want to perform appropriately according to rules in a situation (performing so we can mange impression we want others to have of us)

Impression Management: 2. Back stage behavior:

occurs when there is no audience and performers can relax (may dress more relaxed, act in less prescribed ways (swearing), different more relaxed body posture

Tactics of Impression Management: Self-Handicapping

one creates barriers or excuses that impede success on an upcoming task while also ambiguating the cause of poor performance ; ex: procrastination for finishing a paper within last 2 days its due because it is a ready excise for a poor grade Is a impression management strategy bc Allows us to take credit for success and avoid blame and failure Can be expressed in 2 ways: 1. Creating barriers that reduce the chance of success so blame can be placed on these barriers 2. Claiming barriers by formulating excuses before starting a task

Impression Formation

process of integrating information about another person into a coherent perception ; base our impressions on such varied information as traits, verbal descriptions, facial features, body shape We make attributions about others based on dispositions (internal characteristics) ex: roommate popular bc she is friendly As we get to know more by collecting information, we go beyond 1 dimension of just one attribute, we identify multiple to create complete impression We might sabotage our own performance on a task so we can manage what others might think of us if we did perform poorly (ex: student parties night before exam so can justify that if only he didn't go out, he would've done good on exam = backseat to managing impressions others are forming of us First to study impression formation is Asch ; participants only 1 list of characteristics for Person A and Person B ; only difference was word warm/cold From study: warm/cold and competence are dimensions central trait that carries more weight than do other peripheral traits (blunt/polite characteristic did not affect outcome)

Impression Management (2)

process of managing impressions others are forming of us. "All the world's indeed a stage, and we are merely players" Erving Goffman (1959) saw humans going about their day as actors in play

Impression motivation

varies from high to low across situations