Who are you?
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Social roles: student, daughter, boss, husband
Physical characteristics: tall, short, beautiful…
Intellectual: smart, curious, stupid, inquisitive…
Moods, Attitudes: optimistic, critical, energetic
Belief system: liberal, atheist, Christian
Skills: swimmer, carpenter, artist, musician,
Ethnic/cultural: Asian, Black, Irish, Latino/a
Socioeconomics: poor, rich, blue collar, white
collar, middle class, etc.
Identity and Communication
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Identity is a foundation from which the
communication process operates.
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Our social identities are powerful
influences on our views of ourselves
and others and how we communicate.
Communication and the Self-Concept
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Self-concept, defined:
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A relatively stable set of perceptions you hold
of yourself.
Imagine a special mirror that reflect physical
features and allow you to view other aspects of
yourself.
Reflection is your self-concept.
How Self-Concept Develops
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Reflected Appraisal
Social Comparison
importance of Reference Groups
Your Own
Interpretations/Reflections
How the Self-Concept Develops
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Reflected appraisal,
defined:
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A mirroring of the
judgments of those
around you.
“Significant others”
are people whose
evaluations are
especially influential.
.
Social Comparison
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Social comparison, defined:
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Evaluating ourselves in terms of how we
compare with others.
Reference groups
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People we use to evaluate our own characteristics.
How can social comparison give a person an
overly positive or overly negative selfconcept?
Characteristics of Self-Concept
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Subjective
Conservative
The Self-Concept is Subjective
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We inflate and/or underestimate our
self-perception.
How may an individual’s self-perception
be influenced by:
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obsolete information?
distorted feedback?
the myth of perfection?
social expectations?
The Self-Concept Resists Change
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Why do we resist revision of our selfperception?
Cognitive conservatism, defined:
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Seeking information that conforms to an existing
self-concept.
Influences on Self-Concept
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Community
Family
Culture
Ethnicity
Sex / Gender roles
Identity Management
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Identity management, defined:
 The communication strategies people use to
influence how others view them.
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Public and Private Selves
Characteristics of Identity
Management
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Identity management is collaborative
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“Process theater” in which we improvise scenes
where our character reacts with others.
What happens when someone rejects or does not
collaborate with our identity management
attempts?
Characteristics of Identity
Management
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Identity management can be deliberate or
unconscious
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What situations would require deliberate
identity management?
We unconsciously act in small public
performances, making a particular facial
expression or using a particular tone of voice.
Interplay, 12th Edition, Adler/Rosenfeld/Proctor
Copyright © 2012 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
Characteristics of Identity
Management
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People differ in their degrees of identity
management
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What are advantages to being a high selfmonitor? Drawbacks?
Why Manage Impressions?
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Social rules
Personal goals
Relational goals
It is impossible not to
create impressions
How Do We Manage Impressions?
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Face-to-face impression management
 Manner / Words / Nonverbal actions
 Appearance / Personal items people use to shape an
image
 Clothing / Hairstyle / Personal affects
 Setting
 Physical items people use to influence how others
view them
 “Artifacts” decorate the space we live in
 Automobiles / Artwork
Identity Management and Honesty
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People sometimes misrepresent themselves to gain the
trust of others.
What are examples of ethical or honest identity
management?
Not only one honest way to behave in every
circumstance.
Impression management involves deciding which face—
which part of yourself—to reveal.
Self Disclosure:
Choosing What to Reveal
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Self-disclosure
 Every verbal or nonverbal behavior we engage in is
self-revealing
Distinguishing factors of self-disclosure:
 Honesty
 Depth
 Availability of information
 Context of sharing
Models of Self-Disclosure
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Degrees of Self-Disclosure: The Social Penetration
Model
 Two dimensions:
 Breadth of information volunteered
 Depth of information volunteered
Types of information revealed:
 Clichés—ritualized, stock responses to social situations
 Facts
 Opinions
 Feelings
Awareness of Self-Disclosure:
The Johari Window Model
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Johari Window
 Frame contains likes, dislikes, goals, secrets, needs.
 Part 1: Open area; information of which both you and
the other person are aware.
 Part 2: Blind area; information of which you are
unaware, but the other person knows.
 Part 3: Hidden area; information that you know, but
aren’t willing to reveal to others.
 Part 4: Unknown area: information unknown to you
and others.
Benefits of Self-Disclosure
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Catharsis
Self-clarification
Self-validation
Reciprocity
Impression formation
Relationship maintenance and enhancement
Moral obligation
Social influence
Self-defense
Risks of Self-Disclosure
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Rejection
Negative impression
Decrease in relational satisfaction
Loss of influence
Loss of control
Hurt the other person
Guidelines for Self Disclosure
Is the other person important to you?
 Is the risk of disclosing reasonable?
 Is the self-disclosure appropriate?
 Is the disclosure reciprocated?
 Will the effect be constructive?
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The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
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Occurs when a person’s expectations of
an event/accomplishment/failure/etc.
make that more likely to happen
Your own S-F prophecy
Others S-F prophecy about you
The Self-Fulfilling
Prophecy and Communication
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Self-fulfilling prophecy, defined:
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When a person expectations of an event, and her or high
subsequent behavior based on those expectations, make the
outcome more likely to occur than would otherwise have
true.
Four stages:
 Holding an expectation (for yourself or for others)
 Behaving in accordance with that expectation
 The expectation coming to pass
 Reinforcing the original expectation
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Types of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
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Self-imposed
 Your own expectations influence your behavior.
 Research: “Communicators who believed they were
incompetent proved less likely than others to pursue
rewarding relationships and more likely to sabotage
their existing relationships.”
When a person’s expectations govern another’s actions,
whether positive or negative.
 “Pygmalion” effect = positive
 “Golem” effect = negative
Communication and Self-Esteem
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Self-esteem, defined:
 Part of the self-concept
that involves
evaluations of selfworth.
How does high or low selfesteem affect
communication behavior?
What do the authors mean
by: “Although self-esteem
has obvious benefits, it
doesn’t guarantee
interpersonal success”?
Self-esteem vs. self-concept
Changing your self-concept
or improving self-esteem
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Improving self-esteem
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Attack your self-destructive beliefs
Improving self-esteem
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Be realistic about yourself and the world
Improving self-esteem
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Don’t allow yourself to rationalize failure
Improving self-esteem
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Engage in self-affirmation
Improving self-esteem
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Seek out nourishing (but fair) people
Improving self-esteem
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Be reasonable: e.g., work on projects
that are comparable with your skills