****Lecture 5 - Self-presentation

Question 1

What experiment did Goffman do?

Answer 1

Observed people and life in the Shetland Isles
Found that people manage their behaviour differently according to which group theyre in
- People act differently when being watched or think they are – when they are approaching a neighbours house, they smile just before the door opens. If told they are being watched, they start smiling very early
- People act differently depending on observer

Question 2

What theory did he come up with and define it

Answer 2

Dramaturlogical framework:
Life is structured similarly to theatre
Every situation is a stage, each person performs a role
True regardless of situation, context or environment
- we change roles depending on situation
Society is structured around expectations of performance
Highly flexible theory
- Can help account for differences in culture
- Also for individuals differences in behaviour

Question 3

What are Goffmans 8 key terms>

Answer 3

Performance
Front
Setting
Appearance
Manner
Front stage
Back stage
Off stage

Question 4

Define ‘performance’

Answer 4

“All the activity of an individual which occurs during a period marked by his continous presence before a particualr set of observers and which has some influence on the observers”
Behaviour focused
Everything we do while in front of certain people (audience)

Question 5

Define ‘front’

Answer 5

“The part of an individuals performance which regularly functions in a general and fixed situation to define the situation for those who observe the performer”
Every performer contains a front
An actor can adopt a front for a situation
Similar fronts can be adopted by different actors
You do a performance but you present a front

Question 6

Define ‘Setting’

Answer 6

“involving furniture, décor, physical layout and other background items which supply the scenary and stage props for the spate of human action played out before, within or upon the stage”
Set dressing
Environment
Object-focused

Question 7

Define appearance

Answer 7

“Those stimuli which function at the time to tell us of the performers social stages”
Costumes
Object focused
Helps denote who’s in what role

Question 8

Define manner

Answer 8

“Those stimuli which function at the time to warn us of the interaction role the performer will expect to play in the oncoming situation”
Behaviour that indicates what front we are showing
Any front includes manner
Gesticulation, expressions, physical motions/ actions, all the things you do

Question 9

Define ‘front stage’

Answer 9

“Where the actor formally performs and adheres to conventions that have particular meaning for the audience. The actor knows he/she is being watched and acts accordingly”

Question 10

Define back stage

Answer 10

“Here the performer can relax, he can drop is front, forgo speaking his lines and step out of character”

Question 11

Define off stage

Answer 11

”where individual actors meet the audience members inndependently of the team performance on the front stage”

Seeing your teacher in tescos

Question 12

Do intentions matter according to Goffman, and why?

Answer 12

No because its just about how the audience interprets it

- “impression management”

Question 13

Can performance occur automatically?

Answer 13

yes - especially when in front of a familliar audience as less effort is put into self-presentation (leary et al 1994)

Question 14

Define ‘passing’

Answer 14

Trying to enact a specifc, desired identity that you don’t naturally have – but succesfully convincing others that one does have that identity
To pass successfully, no one must know you’re passing
Can be unintentional, via “giving off”
Relies on expectations
Most frequently used to day in sexual and gender identity – e.g. can pass as heterosexual to avoid explaing why they’re homosexual
But we all do it

Question 15

How does social media enabling passing?

Answer 15

Social media

• Highly constructed performances/ selves
• Possibility of complete anonymity
• Verified accoutns
• Linking the self across different platforms
  
  • internet reduces ability to seperate settings – e.g. LinkedIn is a proffesional, realistic identity
• Easier to engage in taboo behaviour – But don’t want it to bleed into other performances
• Can be chalenging
  
  • easy to be mis-interpreted
  • Online shaming – e.g. Justine Sacco tweet was misintrepreated and she was attacked online
• Goffman argued that the audience is in charge, redgardless of performance

Question 16

Who showed that people perceive others are lying on online dating sites?

Answer 16

Brym & Lenton (2001) - especially about marital status, age and appearance

Question 17

Define accountability

Answer 17

being (potentiall) required to give an account – not the same as responsibility. Deviations from the norm and more accountable
Accountability disappears when people are anonymous
- no performance is at risk
- No self to hold accountable

Question 18

Who found that self-reported troll behaviour correlated with sadism

Answer 18

Buckels et al (2014) - found that when no self is at risk, its easier to give negative comments

Question 19

Define ‘face’

Answer 19

a desired image of self, delineated in terms of approved social attributes
Face work = behaviour relating to maintaining positive face for the self or for others
Remarkably cross cultural
- honour, dignity, prestige, trying to maintain these
Tacit agreement to support each others face

Question 20

Define lying and how it affects face

Answer 20

Knowlingly giving a false performance

Threatens the face of others who are duped and act in accordance with that lie

Question 21

Who investigated how lies are regularly done to support face?

Answer 21

DePaulo + Kashy (1998)

Question 22

Outline DePaulo + Kashy (1998)

Answer 22

Had college students record diary of lies told

• Looking at whether lies were told for personal gain
• Found that majority of lies were in fact told to avoid embarassment, worry or emotional pain
• Most common lie = saying you like something more than you did

Question 23

What is all performance based on?

Answer 23

expectations

• • We perform according to what we think is expected of us
• We are evaluated based on what people expect, and what they think we know they expect

Question 24

Who did the breaching experiments?

Answer 24

Garfinkel (1967)

Question 25

Outline Garfinkel (1967)

Answer 25

Breaching experiment 1: Student boarders
- Students were asked to pretend to be a boarder in their parents home, e.g. having to ask permission to use familys kettle
- Parents were offended, seriously damaged relationship
- Because kids presented incorrect front for the setting
Breaching experiment 2: What do you mean?
- Refuse to understand basic meanings and ask for clarity
- “what do you mean flat tyre?”, “what do you mean by air”
- Experiments treated as annoying, rude, ill or stupid within moments
- Presented incorrect manner

• proved there are rules that are shocking when broken

Question 26

What are the questions people ask of the environment when deciding how to perform?

Answer 26

• What front, manner and appearance are expected in this setting
• Is the performer the focus of attention?
• Familiarity with audience
• What history has passed between performer and audience
• What is at stake?
  
  • e.g. Actors in role play
  • or trainee policieman in a role play with a suspect
• Actors are worried if they’re doing it right
• Policeman are worried if they’re going to get the job

Question 27

What are the individual differences that impact performance?

Answer 27

Social acuity =
- Ability to know what we would need to do in order to create a desired impression
– knowledge of what to do
Behavioural skills =
- Must be capable of doing/ performing the behaviours
- Ability to do it
Incongruence between these creates anxiety (Schlenker and Leary (1982)

Question 28

Who came up with Self-moitoring theory?

Answer 28

Snyder (1974) - low self moitor vs high

Question 29

Outline Snyder (1974)

Answer 29

• People monitor their own behaviour to different degress
  A High self monitor
• See self as flexible, pragmatic
• Strive to be right person for every setting
• Attempt to alter performance and find right front
  A low self-monitor
• See self as highly principled, value consistency of self
• Attempt to maintain similar performance across multiple settings

Question 30

What are the 5 strategies of self-presentation?

Answer 30

• Integration (likeable)
• Self-promotion (competent)
• Intimidation (Powerful)
• Exemplification (Moral)
• Supplication (Helpless)

Question 31

Who linked self-promotion to higher success in job interviews?

Answer 31

Higgins and Judge (2004)

Question 32

Does presentation change who we are?

Answer 32

evidence is unclear

• E.g. power pose research (Canary et al, 2010)
• Before you speak, do this, makes you feel like speech went better
• X – hasn’t been replicated

Question 33

Who did the Power pose research?

Answer 33

Canary et al (2010)

Question 34

Who criticised Goffman?

Answer 34

Kenneth Gergen

Question 35

What were Kenneth Gergen’s critcisms of goffman?

Answer 35

– we are con artists and cant trust anyone – even in love/ affection
But
Not all bad:
- If all people engaged in performance, its not unusual or deviant
- Performance may be involuntary
- Performance doesn’t necessarily mean lack of authenticity
- Performing love doesn’t make it fake
- Simply that in order to accomplish love, we must perform it
- If we don’t perform, the audience wont receive love!