Self-Esteem and Impression Management

Self-Esteem and Impression Management

Have you ever been told that you act like one of your peers or family members? Has there been a time when you were at work and thought someone else's behavior affects your mood or behavior? How about feeling like you can tell what someone is thinking by their facial impressions? What about that person who gets there mind set on something and nothing can change it? In the readings below I will discuss impression management and give four personal illustrated examples of impression management. I will also be looking at the measures that can be taken when using non-verbal communication to improve self-presentation, impression management, attribution inferences, and cognitive biases?

When we look at social comparisons we can see it the process of comparing ourselves to others (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2010). There are two types of social comparison, upwards and downwards. It is quite common for people to compare themselves to upward comparisons. These upward comparisons are those who compare themselves to people who are significantly smarter, more attractive, and wealthier than themselves (Aronson et al., 2010). I have personally witnessed both, I recently was at the gym and we have a young man who is always comparing himself to the weight lifters that are much bigger than him. He is consistently stating that he can lift as much as this guy or run as fast and long as another guy. He is always bringing in fitness magazines and stating his body looks just like the bodybuilders on the cover. Even though we all know he is nowhere close to these guys fitness wise he still compares himself to them. An example of the downward direction was found in the same gym. There was a freshman high school kid who was trying to get better at basketball and he would compare himself to an upper classman who had the same body type and played the same position. This is more realistic because they are already so similar in many areas. Both of these examples are seen daily at my gym because the culture at the gym and community is to always be better than the next guy.

Next is intrinsic/ extrinsic motivation, this is basically internal and external reasons for an individual to perform a certain task (Aronson et al., 2010). In my first example of intrinsic motivation I will discuss my love for basketball. I continue to practice and study basketball for love the game. Even though I don't get paid to play anymore and my knees hurt afterward, just to be out there on the basketball court is payment enough. An example of extrinsic motivation can be explained back when I was a child. When I was a young boy I use to clean my room and do my homework so I could play my video game system. Another example of extrinsic motivation is when I studied for my ACT test so I can get into college to play basketball. I didn't study because of the love of knowledge but because of the