Goffman: Impression Management

February 8, 2013 Impression Management The notion that we see ourselves as an object, as others see us, forms the basis for one of Goffmans central concepts depression management. Impression management refers to the verbal and nonverbal practices we employ in an attack to present an acceptable feel of our ego to others. Some of the principal slipway in which impressions are created and maintained are by the persons demeanor, the deference, the front, the annexe, the character, and the performer. The demeanor deals with how a person conducts and dresses himself individually.For example, the greetings and salutations we offer others, the disclosure of personal information, the goal or granting of physical space we give others, and countless other acts, if make right can mark an individual as well-demeaned person and then deserving of the deference only others can give to him. Deference refers to having honor, dignity, and revere towards others. The reciprocal nature of defer ence and demeanor is such that maintaining a well-demeaned image allows those present to do likewise as the deference they receive obligates them to debate proper deference in kind.The front is what an individual shows toward others while the backstage is the region of the performance normally unobserved by, and restricted from members of the audience. Meaning that state have there own secrets about themselves that no one knows about. As a character, the self is in reality an image, a managed impression that is sham in agreement with others during an encounter. However, when we turn to the self as a performer, we as an individual look to impress or get approval by others by what we do/achieve at something.For example, youre getting your manse ready for when you have guests coming over because you want to make an grave impression. The individual as performer is the thinking, fantasizing, dreaming, desiring clement being whose capacity to experience pride and shame motivates him or her not only to perform for others alone also to take precautions against embarrassment. The process of impression management and social interaction both include a rational and a non-rational dimension in different ways.Merchants of morality is in both of them, it means individuals attempts to engineer interaction profits through properly enacted performances, and to live up to the standards of morality by which their performances will be judged. We present ourselves as well-demeaned persons in part because it is in our best interest to do so but, by doing that, we announce our inclination to the moral standards that ritually organize social encounters. In other words, the self is the mask the individual wears in social situations, but it is also the human being behind the mask who decides which mask to wear.