Self-Presentation

Page 43

You let others know about yourself through self-presentation—intentional communication designed to show elements of self for strategic purposes. For example, if you want to create the impression among your coworkers that you are competent at your job as an editor, you might mention during conversations the names of popular authors you’ve worked with or tell stories about hilariously terrible errors you’ve found in manuscripts you’ve worked on.

We all tend to focus on self-presentation when our social identity is being evaluated, formally or informally, by others (Canary & Cody, 1993). For example, you probably behave very differently when you are meeting your significant other’s parents for the first time than when you’re hanging out with your friends or your family.

Self-presentation can take many forms. You can present yourself through face-to-face conversation, through e-mail or text messaging, and on social-networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. You may even have a preference for one of these channels of communication when self-presenting. For example, many people use asynchronous channels (e-mail, text messages, cards) when they are unsure of the reaction they will get from the recipient (O’Sullivan, 2000). For example, after a heated argument with her boyfriend, Lance, Julie wants to apologize. Because she’s uncomfortable making this self-presentation to Lance over the phone or in person, she chooses to send him a text message when she knows he’ll have his phone turned off. In fact, the most common reasons for choosing e-mail or a text message over face-to-face interaction is the ability to carefully construct our messages and “shield” ourselves from any immediate negative feedback that might come from the other person (Riordan & Kreuz, 2010).

To figure out how to present yourself in the best way, you have to pay attention to your own and others’ behavior. Self-monitoring is your ability to watch your environment and others in it for cues about how to present yourself in a particular situation (Snyder, 1974). High-self-monitoring individuals try to portray themselves as “the right person in the right place at the right time.” These people watch others for hints on how to be successful in social situations. And they try to demonstrate the verbal and nonverbal behaviors that seem most appropriate. You may know someone who is a high-self-monitoring communicator. During class, this person always sits in a certain strategic position, gets involved in discussions when others do so, gestures in a manner similar to others, and when it is time to let others talk, is very strategic with silence. These “sufficiently skilled actors” can display situation-appropriate communication behaviors (Snyder, 1974).

Low-self-monitoring individuals are not nearly as sensitive to situational cues that prescribe communication behavior. They communicate according to their deep-seated values or beliefs. They do not feel the need to adapt to situations or people; rather, they feel that people and situations must take them the way they are, at face value. If low self-monitors anticipate a communication situation that is different from their own self-presentation style, they will either avoid the situation or accept the fact that their communication may not please all the parties involved.

Communicating successfully involves finding the appropriate level of self-monitoring for the situation and the people involved. It might seem like high self-monitors are the winners in social interaction, but this isn’t always the case. High self-monitors can drive themselves to distraction by focusing on every little thing that they say and do (Wright, Holloway, & Roloff, 2007). By contrast, competent communicators will monitor their self-presentation just enough to present themselves effectively but without forgetting that communication involves others. They also know that they can’t control what others do that may affect their efforts to present themselves effectively—including what friends post on their Facebook wall!