self study presentation

Self-Study: What Is It And How To Do It

Reviewed by:

Former Admissions Committee Member, Columbia University

Reviewed: 1/25/24

Self-directed study is an incredibly important part of life; many people already do it without even realizing it. Taking the necessary steps to be a strong self-teacher/learner can profoundly impact both your education and your life. Not sure how to self-study? Keep reading!

There are many different ways to practice the art of self-study, whether that be learning an instrument, studying for an AP exam not offered by your high school, or learning a new language. 

Learning to study for yourself can serve you well in your early education and beyond. If you’re not sure where to start, continue reading to learn everything you need to know about how to self-study. We’ll cover why it’s important, give you a few tips, and answer some frequently asked questions.

What Is Self-Studying?

Self-studying, independently learning something at your own time and pace, involves setting goals and tracking your progress. Most importantly, the benchmarks for progress and success are self-imposed. This means that no one is telling you what to do or what constitutes successfully learning a skill or piece of knowledge.

In actuality, everyone has self-studied at some point in their lives. From studying for an exam in school to learning how to cook a new recipe or figuring out how to play a song on the piano, we’ve all engaged in self-studying. Essentially, there is an art to learning by yourself.

How Important Is Self-Studying 

Self-studying is an important part of realizing your goals and ambitions. Below are explanations for how self-studying can assist you in various settings. 

Self-Studying For School

Self-studying is an essential part of achieving a high GPA ; it’s not just about how hard you work but your approach and overall mindset. There is no better time to start learning how to self-study than in high school. It can improve standardized test scores and also help you excel in your extracurricular activities . 

Learning new skills can impress college admissions committees and your professors once you get into college. This is because if you have different experiences of self-studying, through both your education and personal life, you’ll know how to acquire new skills on time. 

Self-Studying In Your Professional Life

With the expansion of learning resources and courses on the internet, cultivating the ability to self-study can be a game changer. With so many different ways to acquire knowledge online, self-studying can be a game changer when trying to gain valuable professional knowledge and experience. 

Learning how to self-study allows you to utilize all these different resources, making yourself a stronger candidate for the career you desire. Self-studying skills can also help you gain new knowledge in the event that you want to change your career path. 

A knack for studying on your own separates you from your coworkers and puts you in positions for promotions. If you have experience self-studying, through your education or personal life, you’ll know how to acquire new skills promptly. The ability to learn new skills can impress supervisors and make you an indispensable member of their team.

Self-Studying In Your Personal Life

Whether you wish to learn a new language or take up practically any other hobby, the ability to self-study will improve your productivity. With this increase in productivity, you’ll reap the benefits of these new interests and passions more quickly. With all the options available after college , self-studying helps you succeed in any direction life takes you. 

The ability to understand how you work and identify what areas need improvement in your work can help you accomplish whatever you set your mind to. Taking on new challenges and interests will occur with fewer periods of burnout. It’ll feel less like work when you can set realistic goals and see yourself excel in that specific area of your life.

The 10+ Tips for Successful Self Studying

Self-studying is a skill to be learned and perfected. Here are some ways to enhance your self-studying experiences. 

1. Practice Setting Realistic Goals

Setting attainable goals will help you achieve a flow state while working and increase output. There’s a balance in setting goals at the sweet spot between naively optimistic and marginal. You don’t want to experience burnout by setting too high expectations for yourself, but you also don’t want to progress at a snail's pace. 

The first step to setting realistic goals is to know your limits. If you’re honest and humble about what you can get done with your current schedule, you’ll avoid burnout and find yourself working more consistently. Setting realistic targets in your self-studying can also increase your test-taking skills through more useful study sessions.

Next, you’ll want to learn the most important lessons to achieve your desired outcome. Identifying the most important aspects to focus on through self-studying is a skill you can apply to all study topics. It entails figuring out what you want to learn, how hard it might be, and then planning accordingly to meet your goals. 

2. Look For Connections To Enhance Your Learning

To fully grasp new concepts on your own, it’s helpful to relate what you’re learning to something you’ve encountered in the past. For example, if you’re learning a new programming language, referring to experience with another programming language or math-based knowledge can help you acquire the new knowledge faster.

Another way to make connections is to ground your learning in the lesson you’re teaching yourself. In other words, when you refer back to the bigger picture, why you’re learning this material, the true relevance of the current lesson emerges. 

An example of this could be learning creative writing. If you’re learning a specific writing style, re-emphasizing the greater goal of why you’re teaching yourself can show you the importance of that specific style. 

3. Maintain Study Habits And Environment

Finding how to motivate yourself to keep self-studying and persevere when you’re unmotivated will help you accomplish your goals. A good way to do this is by building a routine to ensure continuous work input. Finding motivation tactics can lead to better study habits , which result in stronger test-taking abilities. 

Remember to constantly ask yourself how you can improve your self-studying efforts, be that more enjoyable or informative. A key part of self-studying is maintaining the desire to want to learn better.

4. Study According to Your Style

Tailoring your study approach to match your unique learning style is a pivotal aspect of effective self-study. Trying to experiment with diverse methods, such as reading aloud, taking handwritten notes, or exploring alternative strategies, allows you to discover the most effective way your brain processes and retains information. 

You might find reading aloud enhances your comprehension, while others might benefit more from the tactile engagement of handwritten notes. The key lies in identifying the method that resonates best with your cognitive processes and facilitates a deeper understanding of the material. 

5. Short, Frequent Study Sessions Are Key

Embracing short and frequent study sessions is a more effective learning strategy than longer and intense sessions. Breaking material into manageable sections with brief breaks optimizes focus, enhances material absorption, and prevents mental fatigue. 

6. Regular Self-Testing

You should regularly self-test yourself with tools like Quizlet, which features flashcards and essay questions. It is a dynamic method to reinforce learning and enhance academic preparedness. 

This interactive approach actively engages you in recalling information, solidifying understanding, and improving memory retention. Self-testing identifies areas for further review and cultivates a proactive learning approach, fostering confidence for quizzes and tests.

7. Stay Organized

Maintaining an organized approach to study materials is crucial for effective self-study. Organizing notes, assignments, and resources creates a tidy space that facilitates efficient review and retrieval of information when needed. 

This proactive strategy saves time and provides a clear roadmap for tracking progress and comprehensively navigating through the subject matter, contributing to a more successful self-study experience.

8. Create a Dedicated Study Space

Creating a dedicated study space is a great way to optimize your learning environment. By designating a specific area for studying, you establish a mental association that signals your brain to engage in academic activities when entering that space. This intentional separation fosters a disciplined and purposeful approach, eliminating distractions and promoting efficiency during self-study. 

9. Consistency Is Key

Consistency is key. Establish a regular study schedule at the same time daily to create a structured framework that fosters a routine. Use reminders to stay disciplined until the study routine becomes a habit. This approach conditions your mind to anticipate and engage in academic studies, contributing significantly to long-term academic success.

10. Reflect and Adjust Your Studying Habits

You must evaluate the effectiveness of your approaches, embracing new methods when necessary. This proactive approach ensures your study routine remains dynamic and tailored to evolving needs. 

Reflect on your progress, identify areas for improvement, and make informed changes to optimize the overall learning experience. This process fosters a mindset of continuous improvement, contributing to a successful and rewarding educational journey.

If you’re not sure about what to study in college , check out our free quiz to help you with that! This quiz can help guide you on deciding what field of study to pursue. 

FAQs: Self-Study 

Here are some FAQs to help you better understand the art of self-directed studying. Like most things, you can learn and master the art of self-studying.  

1. What Does Self-Study Mean?

It means to effectively teach yourself what you want on your own time, without a person of authority directing your learning. Although it is an effective technique for test preparation in an educational setting, self-studying is a skill that can have far-reaching impacts on other aspects of your life.

2. Why Is Self-Study Important?

Self-studying is an important skill to learn because it can put you in a position to succeed at anything you do in life. If you know how to teach yourself, you can achieve anything you put your mind to.

3. How To Get Better At Self-Studying?

To get better at self-studying, you need to constantly re-assess how you practice. It will help if you reexamine how you learn and never lose sight of why you’ve decided to learn what you are. 

4. Does Self-Studying Mean Studying Alone?

Technically, self-studying means studying alone. However, studying for standardized tests, work assessments, or anything else of that nature can still be thought of as self-studying if you’re tasked with learning the information alone. 

5. What Are Some Real Benefits of Self-Studying?

Some of the benefits include an increased work output, higher GPA and test scores, better performance in a professional workplace, and greater intrinsic benefits from hobbies.  

6. What Are Some Examples of Self-Studying?

Picking up a new hobby, learning a new language, studying for an important standardized test, or reading books and articles on your own are all examples of self-studying.

Final Thoughts

The common phrase “you can do anything you put your mind to” becomes more tenable with the ability to self-study. You can achieve your goals in all facets of your life with an aptitude for self-studying.

A common trait among successful, influential people is an ability to self-study and direct their learning autonomously. With this, learning to study by yourself is key if you want to succeed in life.

Get A Free Consultation

You may also like.

How to Get Into Spelman College: Acceptance Rate + Tips

Colleges With Co-Op Programs: What You Need to Know

• Learning Skills
• Study Skills

Learning to Learn: Strategies for Effective Self-Study

Search SkillsYouNeed:

Rhubarb The blog at SkillsYouNeed

• Rhubarb Front Page -guidelines for contributors-
• The Skills You Need to Thrive in a University Setting
• Best 9 Ways to Learn English for Chinese Speakers
• How Long Does It Take for Japanese Speakers to Learn English?
• The Art of Driving: Beyond the Wheel with Essential Soft Skills
• Mastering Life Skills for Success - A Guide for Lifelong Learners
• Empowering Seniors: Must-Have Skills for Detecting Fake News
• The Basics of Learning Vietnamese: 7 Tips and Advice
• Effective Communication Skills in a Foreign Language
• The Future of Skill Development: Trends and Innovations Shaping Our Learning Landscape
• 15 Best Learning & Development (L&D) Tools
• Student Skills That Can Provide More Effective Learning
• Balancing Work and Online High School Courses – A Guide for Working Students
• Are Online Private Tutoring Sessions Effective?
• Discover the Best Language to Learn for Your New Journey
• How to Choose Your IB Diploma Programme Subjects Wisely
• Adapting to the Age of Remote Learning as an Educator
• Navigating the New Frontier: AI's Transformative Role in Modern Education
• Closing the Education Gap: EdTech Startups and Nonprofits Working Towards Equity
• Essential Skills and Strategies for Math Teachers
• How LMS Is Improving Training Efficiency and Employee Performance
• Mathematics: A Lifelong Skill Worth Revisiting – Here's Why
• Accessibility for All: The Transformative Role of AI Voice Generators

Subscribe to our FREE newsletter and start improving your life in just 5 minutes a day.

You'll get our 5 free 'One Minute Life Skills' and our weekly newsletter.

We'll never share your email address and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Effective self-led study is something that can help make students more successful than ever before. The power to develop focus and achieve the most vibrant version of yourself is the road to success. Learning to master your mind is the most effective and powerful way to achieve whatever goals you wish to set for yourself in your personal or professional life.

As a student, it is important to understand the positive impacts of your self-study and learn the best way to master this important skill.

Let us understand more about effective self-study and learn some strategies to plan our self-led study. Read on!

Set Clear Goals

Setting clear goals is the first step towards achieving success and, when you have identified clear goals, these determine the direction of travel. Knowing what you are up to, and where you want to go, is so much better than random learning. Goal setting is the first and most important step in the effective self-study process, and determining your main objective will make subsequent steps clearer and easier to identify. Having well-defined objectives can provide direction and a reason for your self-study journey, whether it's gaining a new language, boosting your coding skills, or deepening your understanding of a specific subject.

Create a Study Plan

After setting up your goals, you must create a plan that covers your views on effective self-studying. Divide your learning objectives into smaller, more achievable tasks, and create a study plan that works for you. A well-organized plan will assist you in staying on track and making continuous progress. Optimise your plan to create a well-organised, smooth process, keeping in mind that consistency and the right amount of knowledge will help you succeed in no time. Having everything planned out in advance will make the later steps easier and allow you to focus on achieving your main goal.

Choose Quality Resources

You must select the right tools for productive self-study. Whether it's textbooks, online courses , videos, or articles, make sure the contents are solid, up-to-date, and relevant to your learning objectives. Students studying in London, Manchester, and other parts of European countries can use the best resources. Whether it's online or offline, you can find and curate these resources to expand your learning. Furthermore, don't be afraid to experiment with different resources to locate ones that suit your learning style . Using quality resources will help you learn the basics and conquer your goals more efficiently.

Active Learning Techniques

Teaching strategies known as "active learning techniques" involve students in the process of learning through interaction and engagement. Students using these methods must cooperate, think critically , and actively engage with the material. Students who engage in active learning take charge of their education, become lifelong learners, and become more involved in their self-development. These teaching methods encourage better comprehension, knowledge retention, and the growth of critical thinking abilities in students by actively integrating them into the learning process. Because they establish a dynamic and participatory learning environment, like your comfortable student housing , they help raise motivation and engagement levels among students.

Utilise Technology and Online Tools

Our lives have changed dramatically as a result of technology, which has improved the accessibility, efficiency, and convenience of many chores. Online tools also give students instant access to a wealth of knowledge and resources, enabling them to study, experiment, and create. In this digital era, technologies and online tools are the best essential tools. Students living in student accommodation can find it more convenient since it makes it easier to focus on their studies and achieve a work-life balance. To stay connected, informed, and prosper in the digital age, it is imperative to use technology and internet resources, be it for personal, professional, or business development.

Embrace Failure and Perseverance

Accepting failure and carrying on is an essential tactic for successful self-study. As we start our self-examination journey, it is critical to realise that mistakes are not fatalities but rather opportunities for growth and development. We can learn important lessons from failure and turn this knowledge into an opportunity for growth. We can become resilient and learn how to overcome setbacks by accepting failure. We develop an attitude of constant development and success in our self-study pursuits by accepting failure as a normal part of the learning process and learn to overcome obstacles.

Reflect and Adjust

Two key tactics for efficient self-study are to reflect and adjust. Reflection is pausing to evaluate one's learning and comprehension of the subject matter being studied. Asking yourself questions like "What concepts did I struggle with?" or "What areas do I need to review?" will help with this. People might become aware of their strengths and shortcomings by reflecting on their learning, which helps them to adjust their study strategy accordingly. Conversely, adjusting entails changing one's study methods in light of the realisations that come from introspection. People can make the most of their self-study endeavours and improve their overall learning experience by regularly reflecting on their progress and making adjustments.

Some essential tactics for efficient self-study are taking regular pauses, evaluating oneself, and asking for help and encouragement. A regular study plan and periodic breaks prevent burnout and guarantee effective learning. Furthermore, it is critical to periodically evaluate one's own progress and areas for development in order to identify learning gaps and adjust future study sessions appropriately.

About AmberStudent - Amber Student is a leading student accommodation platform since 2016 and has served over 80 million students globally. Amber Student is a one-stop destination for all your housing needs, fully assisted by amber experts and secure housing far from your home.

About the Author

Bobby Sinha is a storyteller; she enjoys watching Japanese indie movies and knows various ways of using a chopstick. A graduate in business, working as a writer, and someday aspiring to become a Filmmaker proves how versatile she is.

Continue to: Study Skills Lifelong Learning

See also: The Correlation Between Self-Education and Success Top 10 Tips on How to Study While Working Develop Your Learning Skills to the Limits

• SUGGESTED TOPICS
• The Magazine
• Newsletters
• Managing Yourself
• Managing Teams
• Work-life Balance
• The Big Idea
• Data & Visuals
• Reading Lists
• Case Selections
• HBR Learning
• Topic Feeds
• Account Settings
• Email Preferences

To Become Your Best Self, Study Your Successes

• Laura Morgan Roberts,
• Emily D. Heaphy,
• Brianna Barker Caza

Keep a record of positive feedback.

Nearly fifteen years ago, in 2005, the authors’ Harvard Business Review article  introduced a new approach to personal and professional development: the idea that receiving affirmation is a powerful way for us to grow, particularly when it comes in the form of stories describing moments when we are at our best. Their tool is now used by thousands of people globally in corporate trainings, team building, executive leadership programs, and in graduate and undergraduate courses in a variety of disciplines. But there are organic ways that you can learn about and activate your best self at work every day as well. There are five practices for noticing and capitalizing on everyday opportunities for development based on your best self: noticing positive feedback, asking the right questions, studying your successes, enacting your best self, and paying it forward.

Nearly fifteen years ago, in 2005, we published a Harvard Business Review article with our colleagues which introduced a new approach to personal and professional development: the idea that receiving affirmation is a powerful way for us to grow, particularly when it comes in the form of stories describing moments when we are at our best. In this article we introduced the Reflected Best Self Exercise (RBSE), a tool based on our academic research which is now used by thousands of people globally in corporate trainings, team building, executive leadership programs, and in graduate and undergraduate courses in a variety of disciplines.

• Laura Morgan Roberts is a Frank M. Sands Sr. Associate Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. She is an organizational psychologist and the coeditor of Race, Work and Leadership: New Perspectives on the Black Experience (Harvard Business Review Press, 2019).
• EH Emily Heaphy   is an Assistant Professor of Management at the Isenberg School of Management at University of Massachusetts Amherst.
• Brianna Barker Caza is an associate professor of management in the Bryan School of Business and Economics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She received her PhD in organizational psychology from the University of Michigan. Her research examines identity processes, interpersonal relationships, power dynamics, and resilience at work. Her research has been widely published, and in 2019 she was recognized as a Thinkers50 Radar thought leader.

Partner Center

How it works

Transform your enterprise with the scalable mindsets, skills, & behavior change that drive performance.

Explore how BetterUp connects to your core business systems.

We pair AI with the latest in human-centered coaching to drive powerful, lasting learning and behavior change.

Build leaders that accelerate team performance and engagement.

Unlock performance potential at scale with AI-powered curated growth journeys.

Build resilience, well-being and agility to drive performance across your entire enterprise.

Transform your business, starting with your sales leaders.

Unlock business impact from the top with executive coaching.

Foster a culture of inclusion and belonging.

Accelerate the performance and potential of your agencies and employees.

See how innovative organizations use BetterUp to build a thriving workforce.

Discover how BetterUp measurably impacts key business outcomes for organizations like yours.

A demo is the first step to transforming your business. Meet with us to develop a plan for attaining your goals.

• What is coaching?

Learn how 1:1 coaching works, who its for, and if it's right for you.

Accelerate your personal and professional growth with the expert guidance of a BetterUp Coach.

Types of Coaching

Navigate career transitions, accelerate your professional growth, and achieve your career goals with expert coaching.

Enhance your communication skills for better personal and professional relationships, with tailored coaching that focuses on your needs.

Find balance, resilience, and well-being in all areas of your life with holistic coaching designed to empower you.

Discover your perfect match : Take our 5-minute assessment and let us pair you with one of our top Coaches tailored just for you.

Best practices, research, and tools to fuel individual and business growth.

View on-demand BetterUp events and learn about upcoming live discussions.

The latest insights and ideas for building a high-performing workplace.

• BetterUp Briefing

The online magazine that helps you understand tomorrow's workforce trends, today.

Innovative research featured in peer-reviewed journals, press, and more.

Founded in 2022 to deepen the understanding of the intersection of well-being, purpose, and performance

We're on a mission to help everyone live with clarity, purpose, and passion.

Join us and create impactful change.

Read the buzz about BetterUp.

Meet the leadership that's passionate about empowering your workforce.

For Business

For Individuals

The self presentation theory and how to present your best self

Transform your life

Make meaningful changes and become the best version of yourself. BetterUp's professional Coaches are here to support your personal growth journey.

Jump to section

What does self presentation mean?

What are self presentation goals, individual differences and self presentation.

How can you make the most of the self presentation theory at work?  

We all want others to see us as confident, competent, and likeable — even if we don’t necessarily feel that way all the time. In fact, we make dozens of decisions every day — whether consciously or unconsciously — to get people to see us as we want to be seen. But is this kind of self presentation dishonest? Shouldn’t we just be ourselves?

Success requires interacting with other people. We can’t control the other side of those interactions. But we can think about how the other person might see us and make choices about what we want to convey. 

Self presentation is any behavior or action made with the intention to influence or change how other people see you. Anytime we're trying to get people to think of us a certain way, it's an act of self presentation. Generally speaking, we work to present ourselves as favorably as possible. What that means can vary depending on the situation and the other person.

Although at first glance this may seem disingenuous, we all engage in self-presentation. We want to make sure that we show up in a way that not only makes us look good, but makes us feel good about ourselves.

Early research on self presentation focused on narcissism and sociopathy, and how people might use the impression others have of them to manipulate others for their benefit. However, self presentation and manipulation are distinct. After all, managing the way others see us works for their benefit as well as ours.

Imagine, for example, a friend was complaining to you about   a tough time they were having at work . You may want to show up as a compassionate person. However, it also benefits your friend — they feel heard and able to express what is bothering them when you appear to be present, attentive, and considerate of their feelings. In this case, you’d be conscious of projecting a caring image, even if your mind was elsewhere, because you value the relationship and your friend’s experience.

To some extent, every aspect of our lives depends on successful self-presentation. We want our families to feel that we are worthy of attention and love. We present ourselves as studious and responsible to our teachers. We want to seem fun and interesting at a party, and confident at networking events. Even landing a job depends on you convincing the interviewer that you are the best person for the role.

There are three main reasons why people engage in self presentation:

Tangible or social benefits:

In order to achieve the results we want, it often requires that we behave a certain way. In other words, certain behaviors are desirable in certain situations. Matching our behavior to the circumstances can help us connect to others,   develop a sense of belonging , and attune to the needs and feelings of others.

Example:   Michelle is   a new manager . At her first leadership meeting, someone makes a joke that she doesn’t quite get. When everyone else laughs, she smiles, even though she’s not sure why.

By laughing along with the joke, Michelle is trying to fit in and appear “in the know.” Perhaps more importantly, she avoids feeling (or at least appearing) left out, humorless, or revealing that she didn’t get it — which may hurt her confidence and how she interacts with the group in the future.

To facilitate social interaction:

As mentioned, certain circumstances and roles call for certain behaviors. Imagine a defense attorney. Do you think of them a certain way? Do you have expectations for what they do — or don’t — do? If you saw them frantically searching for their car keys, would you feel confident with them defending your case?

If the answer is no, then you have a good idea of why self presentation is critical to social functioning. We’re surprised when people don’t present themselves in a way that we feel is consistent with the demands of their role. Having an understanding of what is expected of you — whether at home, work, or in relationships — may help you succeed by inspiring confidence in others.

Example:   Christopher has always been called a “know-it-all.” He reads frequently and across a variety of topics, but gets nervous and tends to talk over people. When attending a networking event, he is uncharacteristically quiet. Even though he would love to speak up, he’s afraid of being seen as someone who “dominates” the conversation. 

Identity Construction:

It’s not enough for us to declare who we are or what we want to be — we have to take actions consistent with that identity. In many cases, we also have to get others to buy into this image of ourselves as well. Whether it’s a personality trait or a promotion, it can be said that we’re not who   we   think we are, but who others see.

Example:   Jordan is interested in moving to a client-facing role. However, in their last performance review, their manager commented that Jordan seemed “more comfortable working independently.” 

Declaring themselves a “people person” won’t make Jordan’s manager see them any differently. In order to gain their manager’s confidence, Jordan will have to show up as someone who can comfortably engage with clients and thrive in their new role.

We may also use self presentation to reinforce a desired identity for ourselves. If we want to accomplish something, make a change, or   learn a new skill , making it public is a powerful strategy. There's a reason why people who share their goals are more likely to be successful. The positive pressure can help us stay accountable to our commitments in a way that would be hard to accomplish alone.

Example:   Fatima wants to run a 5K. She’s signed up for a couple before, but her perfectionist tendencies lead her to skip race day because she feels she hasn’t trained enough. However, when her friend asks her to run a 5K with her, she shows up without a second thought.

In Fatima’s case, the positive pressure — along with the desire to serve a more important value (friendship) — makes showing up easy.

Because we spend so much time with other people (and our success largely depends on what they think of us), we all curate our appearance in one way or another. However, we don’t all desire to have people see us in the same way or to achieve the same goals. Our experiences and outcomes may vary based on a variety of factors.

One important factor is our level of self-monitoring when we interact with others. Some people are particularly concerned about creating a good impression, while others are uninterested. This can vary not only in individuals, but by circumstances.   A person may feel very confident at work , but nervous about making a good impression on a first date.

Another factor is self-consciousness — that is, how aware people are of themselves in a given circumstance. People that score high on scales of public self-consciousness are aware of how they come across socially. This tends to make it easier for them to align their behavior with the perception that they want others to have of them.

Finally, it's not enough to simply want other people to see you differently. In order to successfully change how other people perceive you, need to have three main skills: 

1. Perception and empathy

Successful self-presentation depends on being able to correctly perceive   how people are feeling , what's important to them, and which traits you need to project in order to achieve your intended outcomes.

2. Motivation

If we don’t have a compelling reason to change the perception that others have of us, we are not likely to try to change our behavior. Your desire for a particular outcome, whether it's social or material, creates a sense of urgency.

3.  A matching skill set

You’ve got to be able to walk the talk. Your actions will convince others more than anything you say. In other words, you have to provide evidence that you are the person you say you are. You may run into challenges if you're trying to portray yourself as skilled in an area where you actually lack experience.

How can you make the most of the self presentation theory at work?

At its heart, self presentation requires a high-level of self awareness and empathy. In order to make sure that we're showing up as our best in every circumstance — and with each person — we have to be aware of our own motivation as well as what would make the biggest difference to the person in front of us.

Here are 6 strategies to learn to make the most of the self-presentation theory in your career:

1. Get feedback from people around you

Ask a trusted friend or mentor to share what you can improve. Asking for feedback about specific experiences, like a recent project or presentation, will make their suggestions more relevant and easier to implement.

2. Study people who have been successful in your role

Look at how they interact with other people. How do you perceive them? Have they had to cultivate particular skills or ways of interacting with others that may not have come easily to them?

3. Be yourself

Look for areas where you naturally excel and stand out. If you feel comfortable, confident, and happy, you’ll have an easier time projecting that to others. It’s much harder to present yourself as confident when you’re uncomfortable.

4. Be aware that you may mess up

As you work to master new skills and ways of interacting with others,   keep asking for feedback . Talk to your manager, team, or a trusted friend about how you came across. If you sense that you’ve missed the mark, address it candidly. People will understand, and you’ll learn more quickly.

Try saying, “I hope that didn’t come across as _______. I want you to know that…”

5. Work with a coach

Coaches are skilled in interpersonal communication and committed to your success. Roleplay conversations to see how they land, and practice what you’ll say and do in upcoming encounters. Over time, a coach will also begin to know you well enough to notice patterns and suggest areas for improvement.

6. The identity is in the details

Don’t forget about the other aspects of your presentation. Take a moment to visualize yourself being the way that you want to be seen. Are there certain details that would make you feel more like that person? Getting organized, refreshing your wardrobe, rewriting your resume, and even cleaning your home office can all serve as powerful affirmations of your next-level self.

Self presentation is defined as the way we try to control how others see us, but it’s just as much about how we see ourselves. It is a skill to achieve a level of comfort with who we are   and   feel confident to choose how we self-present. Consciously working to make sure others get to see the very best of you is a wonderful way to develop into the person you want to be.

Allaya Cooks-Campbell

With over 15 years of content experience, Allaya Cooks Campbell has written for outlets such as ScaryMommy, HRzone, and HuffPost. She holds a B.A. in Psychology and is a certified yoga instructor as well as a certified Integrative Wellness & Life Coach. Allaya is passionate about whole-person wellness, yoga, and mental health.

Impression management: Developing your self-presentation skills

How to make a presentation interactive and exciting, 6 presentation skills and how to improve them, how to give a good presentation that captivates any audience, what is self-preservation 5 skills for achieving it, 8 clever hooks for presentations (with tips), how self-knowledge builds success: self-awareness in the workplace, how to not be nervous for a presentation — 13 tips that work (really), developing psychological flexibility, similar articles, how self-compassion strengthens resilience, what is self-efficacy definition and 7 ways to improve it, what is self-awareness and how to develop it, what i didn't know before working with a coach: the power of reflection, manage your energy, not your time: how to work smarter and faster, building resilience part 6: what is self-efficacy, why learning from failure is your key to success, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

3100 E 5th Street, Suite 350 Austin, TX 78702

• Platform Overview
• Integrations
• Powered by AI
• BetterUp Lead
• BetterUp Manage™
• BetterUp Care™
• Sales Performance
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Case Studies
• Why BetterUp?
• About Coaching
• Find your Coach
• Career Coaching
• Communication Coaching
• Life Coaching
• News and Press
• Leadership Team
• Become a BetterUp Coach
• BetterUp Labs
• Center for Purpose & Performance
• Leadership Training
• Business Coaching
• Contact Support
• Contact Sales
• Privacy Policy
• Acceptable Use Policy
• Trust & Security
• Cookie Preferences

Got any suggestions?

We want to hear from you! Send us a message and help improve Slidesgo

Top searches

Trending searches

solar eclipse

25 templates

16 templates

12 templates

18 templates

41 templates

thanksgiving

38 templates

Study Planning

Study planning presentation, free google slides theme, powerpoint template, and canva presentation template.

Imagine the excitement of finally unlocking the secrets to effective study planning, with a dynamic and visually captivating Google Slides and PowerPoint presentation at your fingertips. This invaluable resource brings together real-life study planning tips that not only help you to organize and manage your time efficiently, but also facilitate a deeper understanding and long-term retention of the information. This presentation explores an optimal balance of strategies such as breaking topics into digestible chunks, setting achievable goals, and using planners!

Features of this template

• Designed for High School
• 100% editable and easy to modify
• 8 different slides to impress your audience
• Contains easy-to-edit graphics such as graphs, maps, tables, timelines and mockups
• Includes 500+ icons and Flaticon’s extension for customizing your slides
• Designed to be used in Google Slides, Canva, and Microsoft PowerPoint
• 16:9 widescreen format suitable for all types of screens
• Includes information about fonts, colors, and credits of the resources used
• Available in different languages

How can I use the template?

Am I free to use the templates?

How to attribute?

Attribution required If you are a free user, you must attribute Slidesgo by keeping the slide where the credits appear. How to attribute?

Available in, related posts on our blog.

How to Add, Duplicate, Move, Delete or Hide Slides in Google Slides

How to Change Layouts in PowerPoint

How to Change the Slide Size in Google Slides

Related presentations.

Premium template

Unlock this template and gain unlimited access

• school Campus Bookshelves
• menu_book Bookshelves
• perm_media Learning Objects
• login Login
• how_to_reg Request Instructor Account
• hub Instructor Commons
• Download Page (PDF)
• Download Full Book (PDF)
• Periodic Table
• Physics Constants
• Scientific Calculator
• Reference & Cite
• Tools expand_more
• Readability

selected template will load here

This action is not available.

12.3: Self-presentation

• Last updated
• Save as PDF
• Page ID 671

Learning Objectives

• Describe social roles and how they influence behavior
• Explain what social norms are and how they influence behavior
• Define script
• Describe the findings of Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment

As you’ve learned, social psychology is the study of how people affect one another’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. We have discussed situational perspectives and social psychology’s emphasis on the ways in which a person’s environment, including culture and other social influences, affect behavior. In this section, we examine situational forces that have a strong influence on human behavior including social roles, social norms, and scripts. We discuss how humans use the social environment as a source of information, or cues, on how to behave. Situational influences on our behavior have important consequences, such as whether we will help a stranger in an emergency or how we would behave in an unfamiliar environment.

Social Roles

One major social determinant of human behavior is our social roles. A social role is a pattern of behavior that is expected of a person in a given setting or group (Hare, 2003). Each one of us has several social roles. You may be, at the same time, a student, a parent, an aspiring teacher, a son or daughter, a spouse, and a lifeguard. How do these social roles influence your behavior? Social roles are defined by culturally shared knowledge. That is, nearly everyone in a given culture knows what behavior is expected of a person in a given role. For example, what is the social role for a student? If you look around a college classroom you will likely see students engaging in studious behavior, taking notes, listening to the professor, reading the textbook, and sitting quietly at their desks (See figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)). Of course you may see students deviating from the expected studious behavior such as texting on their phones or using Facebook on their laptops, but in all cases, the students that you observe are attending class—a part of the social role of students.

Social roles, and our related behavior, can vary across different settings. How do you behave when you are engaging in the role of son or daughter and attending a family function? Now imagine how you behave when you are engaged in the role of employee at your workplace. It is very likely that your behavior will be different. Perhaps you are more relaxed and outgoing with your family, making jokes and doing silly things. But at your workplace you might speak more professionally, and although you may be friendly, you are also serious and focused on getting the work completed. These are examples of how our social roles influence and often dictate our behavior to the extent that identity and personality can vary with context (that is, in different social groups) (Malloy, Albright, Kenny, Agatstein & Winquist, 1997).

Social Norms

As discussed previously, social roles are defined by a culture’s shared knowledge of what is expected behavior of an individual in a specific role. This shared knowledge comes from social norms. A social norm is a group’s expectation of what is appropriate and acceptable behavior for its members—how they are supposed to behave and think (Deutsch & Gerard, 1955; Berkowitz, 2004). How are we expected to act? What are we expected to talk about? What are we expected to wear? In our discussion of social roles we noted that colleges have social norms for students’ behavior in the role of student and workplaces have social norms for employees’ behaviors in the role of employee. Social norms are everywhere including in families, gangs, and on social media outlets. What are some social norms on Facebook?

CONNECT THE CONCEPTS: Tweens, Teens, and Social Norms

My \(11\)-year-old daughter, Jessica, recently told me she needed shorts and shirts for the summer, and that she wanted me to take her to a store at the mall that is popular with preteens and teens to buy them. I have noticed that many girls have clothes from that store, so I tried teasing her. I said, “All the shirts say ‘Aero’ on the front. If you are wearing a shirt like that and you have a substitute teacher, and the other girls are all wearing that type of shirt, won’t the substitute teacher think you are all named ‘Aero’?”

My daughter replied, in typical \(11\)-year-old fashion, “Mom, you are not funny. Can we please go shopping?”

I tried a different tactic. I asked Jessica if having clothing from that particular store will make her popular. She replied, “No, it will not make me popular. It is what the popular kids wear. It will make me feel happier.” How can a label or name brand make someone feel happier? Think back to what you’ve learned about lifespan development . What is it about pre-teens and young teens that make them want to fit in (See figure \(\PageIndex{2}\))? Does this change over time? Think back to your high school experience, or look around your college campus. What is the main name brand clothing you see? What messages do we get from the media about how to fit in?

Because of social roles, people tend to know what behavior is expected of them in specific, familiar settings. A script is a person’s knowledge about the sequence of events expected in a specific setting (Schank & Abelson, 1977). How do you act on the first day of school, when you walk into an elevator, or are at a restaurant? For example, at a restaurant in the United States, if we want the server’s attention, we try to make eye contact. In Brazil, you would make the sound “psst” to get the server’s attention. You can see the cultural differences in scripts. To an American, saying “psst” to a server might seem rude, yet to a Brazilian, trying to make eye contact might not seem an effective strategy. Scripts are important sources of information to guide behavior in given situations. Can you imagine being in an unfamiliar situation and not having a script for how to behave? This could be uncomfortable and confusing. How could you find out about social norms in an unfamiliar culture?

Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment

The famous Stanford prison experiment , conducted by social psychologist Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues at Stanford University, demonstrated the power of social roles, social norms, and scripts. In the summer of 1971, an advertisement was placed in a California newspaper asking for male volunteers to participate in a study about the psychological effects of prison life. More than \(70\) men volunteered, and these volunteers then underwent psychological testing to eliminate candidates who had underlying psychiatric issues, medical issues, or a history of crime or drug abuse. The pool of volunteers was whittled down to \(24\) healthy male college students. Each student was paid \(\$15\) per day and was randomly assigned to play the role of either a prisoner or a guard in the study. Based on what you have learned about research methods, why is it important that participants were randomly assigned?

A mock prison was constructed in the basement of the psychology building at Stanford. Participants assigned to play the role of prisoners were “arrested” at their homes by Palo Alto police officers, booked at a police station, and subsequently taken to the mock prison. The experiment was scheduled to run for several weeks. To the surprise of the researchers, both the “prisoners” and “guards” assumed their roles with zeal. In fact, on day 2, some of the prisoners revolted, and the guards quelled the rebellion by threatening the prisoners with night sticks. In a relatively short time, the guards came to harass the prisoners in an increasingly sadistic manner, through a complete lack of privacy, lack of basic comforts such as mattresses to sleep on, and through degrading chores and late-night counts.

The prisoners, in turn, began to show signs of severe anxiety and hopelessness—they began tolerating the guards’ abuse. Even the Stanford professor who designed the study and was the head researcher, Philip Zimbardo, found himself acting as if the prison was real and his role, as prison supervisor, was real as well. After only six days, the experiment had to be ended due to the participants’ deteriorating behavior. Zimbardo explained,

At this point it became clear that we had to end the study. We had created an overwhelmingly powerful situation—a situation in which prisoners were withdrawing and behaving in pathological ways, and in which some of the guards were behaving sadistically. Even the “good” guards felt helpless to intervene, and none of the guards quit while the study was in progress. Indeed, it should be noted that no guard ever came late for his shift, called in sick, left early, or demanded extra pay for overtime work. (Zimbardo, 2013)

The Stanford prison experiment demonstrated the power of social roles, norms, and scripts in affecting human behavior. The guards and prisoners enacted their social roles by engaging in behaviors appropriate to the roles: The guards gave orders and the prisoners followed orders. Social norms require guards to be authoritarian and prisoners to be submissive. When prisoners rebelled, they violated these social norms, which led to upheaval. The specific acts engaged by the guards and the prisoners derived from scripts. For example, guards degraded the prisoners by forcing them do push-ups and by removing all privacy. Prisoners rebelled by throwing pillows and trashing their cells. Some prisoners became so immersed in their roles that they exhibited symptoms of mental breakdown; however, according to Zimbardo, none of the participants suffered long term harm (Alexander, 2001).

The Stanford Prison Experiment has some parallels with the abuse of prisoners of war by U.S. Army troops and CIA personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison in 2003 and 2004. The offenses at Abu Ghraib were documented by photographs of the abuse, some taken by the abusers themselves (See fig. 12.2.3).

Human behavior is largely influenced by our social roles, norms, and scripts. In order to know how to act in a given situation, we have shared cultural knowledge of how to behave depending on our role in society. Social norms dictate the behavior that is appropriate or inappropriate for each role. Each social role has scripts that help humans learn the sequence of appropriate behaviors in a given setting. The famous Stanford prison experiment is an example of how the power of the situation can dictate the social roles, norms, and scripts we follow in a given situation, even if this behavior is contrary to our typical behavior.

Contributors and Attributions

Rose M. Spielman with many significant contributors. The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo are not subject to the creative commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University. For questions regarding this license, please contact  [email protected] .Textbook content produced by OpenStax College is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0  license. Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected] .

We use essential cookies to make Venngage work. By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.

Manage Cookies

Cookies and similar technologies collect certain information about how you’re using our website. Some of them are essential, and without them you wouldn’t be able to use Venngage. But others are optional, and you get to choose whether we use them or not.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are always on, as they’re essential for making Venngage work, and making it safe. Without these cookies, services you’ve asked for can’t be provided.

Show cookie providers

• Google Login

Functionality Cookies

These cookies help us provide enhanced functionality and personalisation, and remember your settings. They may be set by us or by third party providers.

Performance Cookies

These cookies help us analyze how many people are using Venngage, where they come from and how they're using it. If you opt out of these cookies, we can’t get feedback to make Venngage better for you and all our users.

• Google Analytics

Targeting Cookies

These cookies are set by our advertising partners to track your activity and show you relevant Venngage ads on other sites as you browse the internet.

• Google Tag Manager
• Infographics
• Daily Infographics
• Graphic Design
• Graphs and Charts
• Data Visualization
• Human Resources
• Training and Development
• Beginner Guides

Blog Case Study

How to Present a Case Study like a Pro (With Examples)

By Danesh Ramuthi , Sep 07, 2023

Okay, let’s get real: case studies can be kinda snooze-worthy. But guess what? They don’t have to be!

In this article, I will cover every element that transforms a mere report into a compelling case study, from selecting the right metrics to using persuasive narrative techniques.

And if you’re feeling a little lost, don’t worry! There are cool tools like Venngage’s Case Study Creator to help you whip up something awesome, even if you’re short on time. Plus, the pre-designed case study templates are like instant polish because let’s be honest, everyone loves a shortcut.

Click to jump ahead: 

What is a case study presentation?

What is the purpose of presenting a case study, how to structure a case study presentation, how long should a case study presentation be, 5 case study presentation examples with templates, 6 tips for delivering an effective case study presentation, 5 common mistakes to avoid in a case study presentation, how to present a case study faqs.

A case study presentation involves a comprehensive examination of a specific subject, which could range from an individual, group, location, event, organization or phenomenon.

They’re like puzzles you get to solve with the audience, all while making you think outside the box.

Unlike a basic report or whitepaper, the purpose of a case study presentation is to stimulate critical thinking among the viewers. 

The primary objective of a case study is to provide an extensive and profound comprehension of the chosen topic. You don’t just throw numbers at your audience. You use examples and real-life cases to make you think and see things from different angles.

The primary purpose of presenting a case study is to offer a comprehensive, evidence-based argument that informs, persuades and engages your audience.

Here’s the juicy part: presenting that case study can be your secret weapon. Whether you’re pitching a groundbreaking idea to a room full of suits or trying to impress your professor with your A-game, a well-crafted case study can be the magic dust that sprinkles brilliance over your words.

Think of it like digging into a puzzle you can’t quite crack . A case study lets you explore every piece, turn it over and see how it fits together. This close-up look helps you understand the whole picture, not just a blurry snapshot.

It’s also your chance to showcase how you analyze things, step by step, until you reach a conclusion. It’s all about being open and honest about how you got there.

Besides, presenting a case study gives you an opportunity to connect data and real-world scenarios in a compelling narrative. It helps to make your argument more relatable and accessible, increasing its impact on your audience.

One of the contexts where case studies can be very helpful is during the job interview. In some job interviews, you as candidates may be asked to present a case study as part of the selection process.

Having a case study presentation prepared allows the candidate to demonstrate their ability to understand complex issues, formulate strategies and communicate their ideas effectively.

The way you present a case study can make all the difference in how it’s received. A well-structured presentation not only holds the attention of your audience but also ensures that your key points are communicated clearly and effectively.

In this section, let’s go through the key steps that’ll help you structure your case study presentation for maximum impact.

Let’s get into it. 

Open with an introductory overview 

Start by introducing the subject of your case study and its relevance. Explain why this case study is important and who would benefit from the insights gained. This is your opportunity to grab your audience’s attention.

Explain the problem in question

Dive into the problem or challenge that the case study focuses on. Provide enough background information for the audience to understand the issue. If possible, quantify the problem using data or metrics to show the magnitude or severity.

Detail the solutions to solve the problem

After outlining the problem, describe the steps taken to find a solution. This could include the methodology, any experiments or tests performed and the options that were considered. Make sure to elaborate on why the final solution was chosen over the others.

Key stakeholders Involved

Talk about the individuals, groups or organizations that were directly impacted by or involved in the problem and its solution. 

Stakeholders may experience a range of outcomes—some may benefit, while others could face setbacks.

For example, in a business transformation case study, employees could face job relocations or changes in work culture, while shareholders might be looking at potential gains or losses.

Discuss the key results & outcomes

Discuss the results of implementing the solution. Use data and metrics to back up your statements. Did the solution meet its objectives? What impact did it have on the stakeholders? Be honest about any setbacks or areas for improvement as well.

Include visuals to support your analysis

Visual aids can be incredibly effective in helping your audience grasp complex issues. Utilize charts, graphs, images or video clips to supplement your points. Make sure to explain each visual and how it contributes to your overall argument.

Pie charts illustrate the proportion of different components within a whole, useful for visualizing market share, budget allocation or user demographics.

This is particularly useful especially if you’re displaying survey results in your case study presentation.

Stacked charts on the other hand are perfect for visualizing composition and trends. This is great for analyzing things like customer demographics, product breakdowns or budget allocation in your case study.

Consider this example of a stacked bar chart template. It provides a straightforward summary of the top-selling cake flavors across various locations, offering a quick and comprehensive view of the data.

Not the chart you’re looking for? Browse Venngage’s gallery of chart templates to find the perfect one that’ll captivate your audience and level up your data storytelling.

Recommendations and next steps

Wrap up by providing recommendations based on the case study findings. Outline the next steps that stakeholders should take to either expand on the success of the project or address any remaining challenges.

Acknowledgments and references

Thank the people who contributed to the case study and helped in the problem-solving process. Cite any external resources, reports or data sets that contributed to your analysis.

Feedback & Q&A session

Open the floor for questions and feedback from your audience. This allows for further discussion and can provide additional insights that may not have been considered previously.

Closing remarks

Conclude the presentation by summarizing the key points and emphasizing the takeaways. Thank your audience for their time and participation and express your willingness to engage in further discussions or collaborations on the subject.

Well, the length of a case study presentation can vary depending on the complexity of the topic and the needs of your audience. However, a typical business or academic presentation often lasts between 15 to 30 minutes. 

This time frame usually allows for a thorough explanation of the case while maintaining audience engagement. However, always consider leaving a few minutes at the end for a Q&A session to address any questions or clarify points made during the presentation.

When it comes to presenting a compelling case study, having a well-structured template can be a game-changer. 

It helps you organize your thoughts, data and findings in a coherent and visually pleasing manner. 

Not all case studies are created equal and different scenarios require distinct approaches for maximum impact. 

To save you time and effort, I have curated a list of 5 versatile case study presentation templates, each designed for specific needs and audiences. 

Here are some best case study presentation examples that showcase effective strategies for engaging your audience and conveying complex information clearly.

1 . Lab report case study template

Ever feel like your research gets lost in a world of endless numbers and jargon? Lab case studies are your way out!

Think of it as building a bridge between your cool experiment and everyone else. It’s more than just reporting results – it’s explaining the “why” and “how” in a way that grabs attention and makes sense.

This lap report template acts as a blueprint for your report, guiding you through each essential section (introduction, methods, results, etc.) in a logical order.

Want to present your research like a pro? Browse our research presentation template gallery for creative inspiration!

2. Product case study template

It’s time you ditch those boring slideshows and bullet points because I’ve got a better way to win over clients: product case study templates.

Instead of just listing features and benefits, you get to create a clear and concise story that shows potential clients exactly what your product can do for them. It’s like painting a picture they can easily visualize, helping them understand the value your product brings to the table.

Grab the template below, fill in the details, and watch as your product’s impact comes to life!

3. Content marketing case study template

In digital marketing, showcasing your accomplishments is as vital as achieving them. 

A well-crafted case study not only acts as a testament to your successes but can also serve as an instructional tool for others. 

With this coral content marketing case study template—a perfect blend of vibrant design and structured documentation, you can narrate your marketing triumphs effectively.

4. Case study psychology template

Understanding how people tick is one of psychology’s biggest quests and case studies are like magnifying glasses for the mind. They offer in-depth looks at real-life behaviors, emotions and thought processes, revealing fascinating insights into what makes us human.

Writing a top-notch case study, though, can be a challenge. It requires careful organization, clear presentation and meticulous attention to detail. That’s where a good case study psychology template comes in handy.

Think of it as a helpful guide, taking care of formatting and structure while you focus on the juicy content. No more wrestling with layouts or margins – just pour your research magic into crafting a compelling narrative.

5. Lead generation case study template

Lead generation can be a real head-scratcher. But here’s a little help: a lead generation case study.

Think of it like a friendly handshake and a confident resume all rolled into one. It’s your chance to showcase your expertise, share real-world successes and offer valuable insights. Potential clients get to see your track record, understand your approach and decide if you’re the right fit.

No need to start from scratch, though. This lead generation case study template guides you step-by-step through crafting a clear, compelling narrative that highlights your wins and offers actionable tips for others. Fill in the gaps with your specific data and strategies, and voilà! You’ve got a powerful tool to attract new customers.

Related: 15+ Professional Case Study Examples [Design Tips + Templates]

So, you’ve spent hours crafting the perfect case study and are now tasked with presenting it. Crafting the case study is only half the battle; delivering it effectively is equally important. 

Whether you’re facing a room of executives, academics or potential clients, how you present your findings can make a significant difference in how your work is received. 

Forget boring reports and snooze-inducing presentations! Let’s make your case study sing. Here are some key pointers to turn information into an engaging and persuasive performance:

• Know your audience : Tailor your presentation to the knowledge level and interests of your audience. Remember to use language and examples that resonate with them.
• Rehearse : Rehearsing your case study presentation is the key to a smooth delivery and for ensuring that you stay within the allotted time. Practice helps you fine-tune your pacing, hone your speaking skills with good word pronunciations and become comfortable with the material, leading to a more confident, conversational and effective presentation.
• Start strong : Open with a compelling introduction that grabs your audience’s attention. You might want to use an interesting statistic, a provocative question or a brief story that sets the stage for your case study.
• Be clear and concise : Avoid jargon and overly complex sentences. Get to the point quickly and stay focused on your objectives.
• Use visual aids : Incorporate slides with graphics, charts or videos to supplement your verbal presentation. Make sure they are easy to read and understand.
• Tell a story : Use storytelling techniques to make the case study more engaging. A well-told narrative can help you make complex data more relatable and easier to digest.

Ditching the dry reports and slide decks? Venngage’s case study templates let you wow customers with your solutions and gain insights to improve your business plan. Pre-built templates, visual magic and customer captivation – all just a click away. Go tell your story and watch them say “wow!”

Nailed your case study, but want to make your presentation even stronger? Avoid these common mistakes to ensure your audience gets the most out of it:

Overloading with information

A case study is not an encyclopedia. Overloading your presentation with excessive data, text or jargon can make it cumbersome and difficult for the audience to digest the key points. Stick to what’s essential and impactful. Need help making your data clear and impactful? Our data presentation templates can help! Find clear and engaging visuals to showcase your findings.

Lack of structure

Jumping haphazardly between points or topics can confuse your audience. A well-structured presentation, with a logical flow from introduction to conclusion, is crucial for effective communication.

Ignoring the audience

Different audiences have different needs and levels of understanding. Failing to adapt your presentation to your audience can result in a disconnect and a less impactful presentation.

Poor visual elements

While content is king, poor design or lack of visual elements can make your case study dull or hard to follow. Make sure you use high-quality images, graphs and other visual aids to support your narrative.

Not focusing on results

A case study aims to showcase a problem and its solution, but what most people care about are the results. Failing to highlight or adequately explain the outcomes can make your presentation fall flat.

How to start a case study presentation?

Starting a case study presentation effectively involves a few key steps:

• Grab attention : Open with a hook—an intriguing statistic, a provocative question or a compelling visual—to engage your audience from the get-go.
• Set the stage : Briefly introduce the subject, context and relevance of the case study to give your audience an idea of what to expect.
• Outline objectives : Clearly state what the case study aims to achieve. Are you solving a problem, proving a point or showcasing a success?
• Agenda : Give a quick outline of the key sections or topics you’ll cover to help the audience follow along.
• Set expectations : Let your audience know what you want them to take away from the presentation, whether it’s knowledge, inspiration or a call to action.

How to present a case study on PowerPoint and on Google Slides?

Presenting a case study on PowerPoint and Google Slides involves a structured approach for clarity and impact using presentation slides :

• Title slide : Start with a title slide that includes the name of the case study, your name and any relevant institutional affiliations.
• Introduction : Follow with a slide that outlines the problem or situation your case study addresses. Include a hook to engage the audience.
• Objectives : Clearly state the goals of the case study in a dedicated slide.
• Findings : Use charts, graphs and bullet points to present your findings succinctly.
• Analysis : Discuss what the findings mean, drawing on supporting data or secondary research as necessary.
• Conclusion : Summarize key takeaways and results.
• Q&A : End with a slide inviting questions from the audience.

What’s the role of analysis in a case study presentation?

The role of analysis in a case study presentation is to interpret the data and findings, providing context and meaning to them. 

It helps your audience understand the implications of the case study, connects the dots between the problem and the solution and may offer recommendations for future action.

Is it important to include real data and results in the presentation?

Yes, including real data and results in a case study presentation is crucial to show experience,  credibility and impact. Authentic data lends weight to your findings and conclusions, enabling the audience to trust your analysis and take your recommendations more seriously

How do I conclude a case study presentation effectively?

To conclude a case study presentation effectively, summarize the key findings, insights and recommendations in a clear and concise manner. 

End with a strong call-to-action or a thought-provoking question to leave a lasting impression on your audience.

What’s the best way to showcase data in a case study presentation ?

The best way to showcase data in a case study presentation is through visual aids like charts, graphs and infographics which make complex information easily digestible, engaging and creative. 

Don’t just report results, visualize them! This template for example lets you transform your social media case study into a captivating infographic that sparks conversation.

Choose the type of visual that best represents the data you’re showing; for example, use bar charts for comparisons or pie charts for parts of a whole. 

Ensure that the visuals are high-quality and clearly labeled, so the audience can quickly grasp the key points. 

Keep the design consistent and simple, avoiding clutter or overly complex visuals that could distract from the message.

Choose a template that perfectly suits your case study where you can utilize different visual aids for maximum impact. 

Need more inspiration on how to turn numbers into impact with the help of infographics? Our ready-to-use infographic templates take the guesswork out of creating visual impact for your case studies with just a few clicks.

Related: 10+ Case Study Infographic Templates That Convert

Congrats on mastering the art of compelling case study presentations! This guide has equipped you with all the essentials, from structure and nuances to avoiding common pitfalls. You’re ready to impress any audience, whether in the boardroom, the classroom or beyond.

And remember, you’re not alone in this journey. Venngage’s Case Study Creator is your trusty companion, ready to elevate your presentations from ordinary to extraordinary. So, let your confidence shine, leverage your newly acquired skills and prepare to deliver presentations that truly resonate.

Go forth and make a lasting impact!

Transform your presentations in an easy-to-follow self-study course Learn at your own pace wherever you are Written by Ellen Finkelstein, PowerPoint MVP (a Microsoft award)

Do your sales/proposal presentations seem to hit a brick wall, is your audience bored, are you committing death by powerpoint,  presentation skills are important for your career learn how to....

• Get your audience to ask you back
• Create professional and clear PowerPoint presentations
• Be seen as a leader — stand out above the rest

Now updated through PowerPoint 2013!

(Covers 2007, 2010 and 2013. Note that most of this course applies to any slide program, but 4 lessons have specific instructions for PowerPoint.)

You can succeed with presentations!

It's not as hard as you think. you just need to know:.

• Basic principles for content development.
• Principles of design for non-designers.
• Delivery techniques that keep your audience glued in their seats.

This self-study course contains over 50 pages of detailed content and will explain what you need to know to create and deliver outstanding presentations. Numerous exercises give you practice and hone your skills.

By the end of the self-study course, you'll know how to:.

• Use the persuasive model to get action from your audience
• Create visuals that help people understand, remember, and decide
• Avoid the "Death by PowerPoint" syndrome, and instead enliven communication
• Get your audience's attention and keep their interest
• Draw your audience into the communication process
• Develop a presentation from scratch

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"People actually applauded at the end!! and my friend who was there (and gave me constructive feedback from my lecture in May) said it was great. So thank you, thank you, thank you! It works!"  - Chaya Green, TM Teacher

"Ellen did an awesome job of presenting the PowerPoint material. I appreciated the fact that she offered many suggestions for usefulness in my profession." - Mary Duffy

Why should you learn from me?

I've been writing about and teaching PowerPoint and presenting skills since 1997. It wasn't always easy for me. My first attempts to design slides were ridiculed. My first speaking engagements were scary and not very successful. I had to learn and practice principles that I could apply to presenting. I'd like to pass these on to you. Microsoft has recognized my experisie with the PowerPoint MVP award; there are only 14 PowerPoint MVPs in the United States.

I'm the author of:

• PowerPoint Essentials
• PowerPoint for Teachers: Dynamic Presentations and Interactive Classroom Projects
• 101 Tips Every PowerPoint User Should Know
• Slide Design for Non-Designers

Comments from readers, clients, and attendees:

"Ellen comes well prepared with useful information to help you become a more persuasive and powerful communicator. She condenses an enormous amount of information into the workshop, leaving you with ample tools and valuable resources." - Mark Petrick, Senior Projects Coordinator

"You might be able to read how to do something in PowerPoint, but having Ellen walk you through the technique is much more effective. This course is time well spent." - Paul Cleland, Veterinary Affairs Manager

"I wrote a PPT last week using the "Tell'n'Show SM idea. Worked beautifully. Not surprisingly I ended up with graphically oriented, rather than word oriented, slides. I also wrote the presentation using Word and then figured what visual aids would emphasize something being said. Then brought it all over to PPT. Just the opposite of what I used to do, which was start by opening PPT, pull up the standard bullet point slide and start writing. Thanks for the help!" -Bob Stein

Who should take this course?

This self-study course is for professionals who want to gain more business, get that promotion, or gain recognition in their profession. You should know the basics of PowerPoint (or other slide program) .

What's the structure of the self-study course?

The self-study course contains 3 parts. The result will be a fully-developed short presentation.

• Part 1: All about content! You'll learn how to use your goal to drive the rest of your content, how to use the persuasive model, how to use copywriting principles to get the results you want, and how to use the Tell 'n' Show SM method to communicate clearly. You'll learn to write an effective 7-8 minute speech, incorporating what you've learned. The 3 lessons in this part are Goals and Means , Write Your Script , and Storyboard and Gather Materials .
• Part 2: All about design! You'll learn techniques that anyone can use to communicate visually so that your audience clearly understands and remembers what you're saying. (You can use any presentation software that you have.) The 4 lessons are Start Your Presentation File , Format the Slide Master and Your Color Scheme , Add Some Design , and Add Visuals . The Add Visuals lesson covers images, diagrams, graphs, layout, and hyperlinks.
• Part 3: All about delivery! You'll learn how to have a conversation with your audience, rather than talk to them, as well as techniques to polish your speaking. The 3 lessons in this part are Practice , Deliver , and Ask for Feedback .

"This was an excellent workshop, well designed for my level of PowerPoint expertise and my relative lack of designing experience. Hand in glove, so to speak." - Kevin Duffy

What does it cost?

The self-study course is just $97! (The equivalent workshop is $595 for the three days.)

What do you need from your side?

You'll need an existing presentation or the outline of one you want to give. You'll also need PowerPoint or other presentation software that you know how to use. This self-study course is not theoretical; you'll end up out with a real presentation that you know how to deliver successfully.

You'll get the following free bonuses when you purchase.

Bonus 1: My e-book, 101 Tips Every PowerPoint User Should Know . I sell it for $19.97.

Bonus 2: My e-book, 7 Steps to Great Images . I sell it for $6.97.

Bonus 3: My video: "One Point Per Slide"

Bonus 4: My narrated presentation: Tell 'n' Show SM

Bonus 5: My e-book, The Lost Art of Persuasion. I sell it for $9.97.

Bonus 6: My white paper: "From Death by PowerPoint to Life by PowerPoint with the Tell 'n' Show SM method.

Bonus 7: E-mail me 3 times while you study to ask me questions and I'll give you answers!

Sorry, this course is no longer available!

Copyright Ellen Finkelstein, Inc. Microsoft product screen shots reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation

Copyright - PowerPoint Tips Blog - All Rights Reserved

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Psychol Res Behav Manag

Influence of Life Satisfaction on Self-Esteem Among Young Adults: The Mediating Role of Self-Presentation

Małgorzata szcześniak.

1 Institute of Psychology, University of Szczecin, Szczecin, 71-017, Poland

Paulina Mazur

Wojciech rodzeń, kamila szpunar.

A comprehensive literature review suggests that self-esteem seems to be contingent on being satisfied in various domains of life. Although there are multiple studies that have addressed the direct relationship between both variables, there is still little known about the psychological mechanisms that underlie this association. Since self-presentation is an important process in young adulthood, the main goal of the present study was to consider self-promotion and self-deprecation as potential mediators between life satisfaction and self-esteem.

Participants, Methods and Data Collection

The study included 328 young adults aged between 18 and 35. Most of them were women (74.1%). The data were collected in Poland through an anonymous self-administered battery of questionnaires on the Internet platform. The participants completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Self-Presentation Style Questionnaire.

A high and positive correlation coefficient was obtained between self-esteem and life satisfaction ( r = 0.73; p < 0.001). The level of self-esteem correlated positively with the style of self-promotion ( r = 0.46; p < 0.001) and negatively with the style of self-deprecation ( r = −0.63; p < 0.001). Similarly, life satisfaction was positively associated with self-promotion ( r = 0.37; p < 0.001) and negatively with self-depreciation ( r = −0.42; p < 0.001). Moreover, both self-promotion (β = 0.67; p < 0.001) and self-deprecation (β = 0.58; p < 0.001) acted as mediators between life satisfaction and self-esteem.

The present study increases our knowledge about the mediatory role of self-promotion and self-deprecation. An overall sense of satisfaction with one’s own life can lead to higher self-esteem when young people are aware of their strengths and talents. Likewise, lower life satisfaction can elicit less positive self-esteem when people tend to undervalue their capabilities.

Introduction

Self-esteem is a complex, subjective construct which reflects an individual’s perception, emotional evaluation, and acceptance of the self. 1–6 Researchers advocate that self-esteem is relatively stable throughout life, 7–9 increases in young adulthood, 10 and varies across cultures. 11 In some social contexts and religions, self-esteem and self-worth come from the very fact of being a human being, and in others, self-esteem depends on what people are or do. 7 , 12

Considering the second perspective, some theorists emphasize that an individual’s self-esteem may be an outcome variable 13 and depends on several factors such as: socialization processes, 14 , 15 social, cognitive, and biological changes, 7 quality of one’s interpersonal relationships, 16–18 others’ approval/inclusion or rejection/exclusion, 19–21 personal beliefs, 22 values, 11 , 23 , 24 and success or failures in pursuing one’s goals. 12 , 25 In other words, people’s self-esteem seems to be contingent on being satisfied in various domains of life. 26

Researchers define subjective well-being (SWB) in different ways, referring to the two main historical views of hedonism and eudaimonia. 27 , 28 The hedonic dimension of SWB alludes to pleasant or unpleasant affective aspects of people’s judgment about their lives. 29–31 The eudaimonic component of well-being implies a valuable life, 30 accentuates personal meaning and growth, 32 deals with purpose in life, 33 and indicates virtuous excellence. 34 Another model of well-being refers to the tripartite structure of SWB by Diner et al 35 that contains three primary components: positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. The two former elements have an emotional character and the latter has a cognitive one. In our study, we refer to the conceptualisation which identifies life satisfaction as “a distinct construct representing a cognitive and global evaluation of the quality of one’s life as a whole” (p. 137). 36

A comprehensive literature review suggests that the directionality of the relations between self-esteem and general satisfaction or its different types is unclear. 37 Past research has mainly shown that self-esteem acts as a strong predictor of life satisfaction. 13 , 14 Such an approach reflects bottom-up theories of SWB which consider particular variables as determinants of life satisfaction. 38 , 39 Less attention, however, has been given to whether overall satisfaction or its various dimensions may be predictors of self-esteem. 13 , 37 This approach represents top-down theories which consider life satisfaction as a factor that produces certain outcomes. 38 , 39 According to this perspective, people first evaluate their general life satisfaction and then depend on this assessment when considering more specific domains. 40 In other words, a comprehensive disposition to experience things in a positive way has its effect on people’s interactions with the world and the self. 41

Given that life satisfaction, understood as a a cognitive judgmental process based on individual evaluation of one’s life in general 36 or specific domains, 42 can be an antecedent to self-esteem, we took this line of analysis in the present research. In this respect, Baumeister et al 43 have assumed that self-esteem can not only cause a variety of positive outcomes, but can itself be an outcome of success as well. Similarly, Brown et al 13 have noticed that a broad range of experiences influence the way people perceive, think, and feel about themselves. Moreover, Diener and Diener 14 have found that friend, family, and financial satisfaction are predictors of self-esteem. In fact, Goldsmith et al 44 have observed that self-esteem may be modified by important life alterations or distressing circumstances. In turn, Barker and Bornstein 37 have suggested that satisfaction with one’s appearance might help in raising people’s global self-esteem. A recent longitudinal study 45 has shown that satisfaction with one’s relationship affects self-esteem. People who consider their lives as satisfied have increased self-confidence and self-efficacy. 46 Neff 47 has observed that self-esteem is predominantly the outcome of doing well. On the basis of the abovementioned studies, we hypothesized that:

H1: Life satisfaction is positively related to self-esteem.

Multiple studies have addressed the direct relationship between life satisfaction and self-esteem 3 , 36 , 48–54 but the psychological mechanisms that underlie this association are still unknown. Therefore, the present research has attempted to go beyond the direct link between both constructs by examining the potential mediator of self-presentation. In fact, young people tend to engage in self-presentation to explore their identity 55 and strengthen their self images. 56 The choice of self-presentation was dictated by the fact that young adults are particularly sensitive to this aspect of their functioning. Therefore, both self-promotion and self-deprecation seem not indifferent to experiencing self-esteem in the context of life satisfaction.

The term “self-presentation” usually refers to people’s endeavors to convey an image of the self to others 57 and to control impressions of themselves. 58 , 59 In this sense, self-presentation can also be defined as a skill consisting of the selective presentation of one’s self to others. 60 Self-presentation can be manifested through different forms of self-promotion or its opposite, self-deprecation. 61 People who self-promote enhance aspects of the self, 62 tend to emphasize their competence, strengths, talents, 63–65 point with pride to their own accomplishments and make internal attributions for success. 66 On the contrary, individuals who assume self-depreciative behavior create their own image as being incompetent, insecure, and helpless. 67 Self-deprecation refers to negative self-evaluation, 68 the tendency to denigrate or disparage one’s own capabilities, 69 feeling unworthy or inferior.

The literature on self-presentation has verified that self-promotion contributes to favorable outcomes, 63 subjective vitality, 70 and well-being. 71 Although there is little empirical evidence on the relationship between life satisfaction and self-promotion, a number of studies have shed light on this association. For instance, Wojciszke 57 has found that successful, well-educated women working in managerial positions in various types of companies are more prone to self-promotion and less to self-deprecation than well-educated nurses employed as secondary medical personnel in the health service. Given that education matters to subjective quality of life 72 and relates to self-promotion 57 it is reasonable to infer that satisfaction with the quality of one’s own life is related to engagement in self-promotion. With respect to self-deprecation, it has been confirmed that people who feel more lonely, 73 have more negative emotions, 69 declare lower levels of life satisfaction, 74 fear being laughed at, 67 and have difficulty coping with stressors in their daily life 75 deprecate their value. In fact, life satisfaction, considered as the evaluation of people’s overall quality of life, expresses “one’s liking or disliking of one’s life” (p. 574). 76 It can be assumed that satisfaction might be positively tied to self-promotion, and negatively to self-deprecation. Moreover, drawing on the top-down theories mentioned earlier, it can be presumed that life satisfaction may influence both dimensions of self-presentation. The more satisfied someone is with their life, the more likely they are to enhance aspects of the self. Conversely, lower satisfaction may be manifested by a lower level of competence or security. Consistent with this line of research, we hypothesized that:

H2: Life satisfaction is positively related to self-promotion, and negatively associated with self-deprecation.

Finally, consideration of self-promotion and self-deprecation as potential mediators between life satisfaction and self-esteem also requires both styles of self-presentation to be related to self-esteem. According to some researchers, 57 , 77 , 78 individuals with genuinely high self-esteem adopt self-promotion as one of the self-presentation styles. Likewise, McGregor et al 79 have shown that self-promoting behaviors have been found among people with high self-esteem. In other words, emphasizing one’s own abilities characterizes high 80 and secure 81 self-esteem subjects. Instead, self-deprecation tends to correlate negatively with self-esteem. According to Neenan and Dryden, 82 self-deprecation manifests itself when self-esteem falls. Peteet et al 83 have found that impostorism, conceptually closed to self-deprecation, is associated with deficient psychological functioning and low self-esteem. Although there is a lack of studies regarding the mediatory effect of self-promotion or self-deprecation on the relationship between life satisfaction and self-esteem, on the basis of the presented empirical evidence, we hypothesized that:

H3: Self-promotion and self-deprecation act as mediators between life satisfaction and self-esteem.

In brief, our main goal was to verify whether or not a subjective evaluation of people’s life can have a greater/lower impact on their overall sense of worth when they improve/impair their strengths and talents.

Participants and Data Collection

The study included 328 young adults – 243 women (74.1%) and 85 men (25.9%) aged 18 to 35 ( M = 23.02; SD = 3.80). The data were collected in Poland through an anonymous self-administered battery of questionnaires on the Internet platform. University students of psychology were invited to participate in the study and to reach other young adults, both friends and family members. The present research relied on a convenience sample as such a methodology is cost-effective, efficient, and simple to implement. 84 The inclusion criteria were related to the age of young adulthood since self-promotion is a commonly used strategy in this developmental period. 85 All of the respondents were given insight into the purpose of the study, including the confidentiality of the data. They were also prompted with a web-based informed consent. After confirming their agreement, the participants were solicited to complete the questionnaires. The study was approved by the Bioethics Committee of the Institute of Psychology at the University of Szczecin (KB 12/2021) and conducted in compliance with ethical guidelines provided by the Declaration of Helsinki.

Measurement

Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). A self-report tool used to measure the overall level of satisfaction 35 in the Polish adaptation of Juczyński. 86 The one-factor scale consists of five items (eg: So far I have got the important things I want in life). The examined person assesses the extent to which each of the statements applies to his or her life. The answers are given using a seven-point Likert scale (from 1 – “strongly disagree” to 7 – “strongly agree”). The higher the score obtained, the higher the level of overall satisfaction with life. The scale is characterized by a high value of the reliability index. In fact, in the present study, α was 0.89.

Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES). A self-report research tool created by Rosenberg 87 in the Polish version by Łaguna et al 88 used to measure the general level of self-esteem – the global attitude toward the self, as a conscious and relatively constant self-assessment. The one-dimensional scale consists of 10 items (eg: I am able to do things as well as most other people). The respondent’s task is to indicate on a four-point scale (from 1 – “strongly agree” to 4 – “strongly disagree”) to what extent he or she agrees with each of the statements. The higher the overall score obtained, the higher the self-assessment level. High self-esteem means the belief that you are a valuable person (not necessarily in comparison with others), and low self-esteem means dissatisfaction with yourself, rejection of your own self. The responses to five statements are scored inversely. The present study obtained a high value of Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient (α = 0.92).

Self-Presentation Style Questionnaire (SSQ). A two-factor tool, developed by Wojciszke, 57 used to measure styles of self-presentation, understood as intentional behavior aimed at modifying the way other people perceive oneself and making the desired impression on others. The questionnaire consists of 30 items forming two factors that make up the distinguished styles of self-presentation: self-promotion – presenting oneself as a competent person (eg: I emphasize my own merits), and self-deprecation – creating oneself as a modest and not very competent person (eg: I belittle the importance of my achievements). The participant responds to all statements using a 5-point scale (from 1 – “never” to 5 – “very often”). The current study obtained high α values of Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients for both styles of self-presentation: self-promotion (α = 0.87) and self-deprecation (α = 0.83). Both values were very similar to the original results: self-promotion (α = 0.87) and self-deprecation (α = 0.82). 57

Statistical Analysis

All calculations were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0 with a 95% confidence level. Due to the electronic method, no missing data were identified among the analyzed observations. Prior to the major statistical analyses, the data were validated for outliers using the Mahalanobis, Cook’s distance indicators and impact values. Failure to meet two of the three assumptions of the distance indicators used was adopted as the criterion for rejecting observations. In order to estimate the degree of correlation between all of the variables, calculations were performed using the Pearson correlation coefficient.

The main statistical calculations concerned the analysis of the two simple mediation models using the bootstrapping method with a random selection of 5000 samples using the PROCESS macro 3.4. 89 The rationale to consider only one mediator model and not two parallel mediation models including both types of self-presentation was that while we expected self-promotion and self-depreciation to correlate, their association was suspected to be negative. Therefore, we treated both dimensions as separate ones. In both analyzed models, the independent variable (X) was life satisfaction, the dependent variable (Y) was the level of self-esteem, and the mediator (M) was the selected style of self-presentation – self-promotion in model 1 and self-deprecation in model 2.

Descriptive Statistics

The values of the mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis tests are presented in Table 1 . Despite the statistically significant ( p < 0.001) values of the normality test, the skewness and kurtosis values were in a relatively low range of ±1.

Descriptive Statistics for Life Satisfaction, Self-Esteem, Self-Promotion, and Self-Deprecation (N = 328)

Life satisfaction, self-esteem, self-promotion, and self-deprecation were screened for skewness and kurtosis to evaluate the normality of the scales’ distributions. We adopted indices less than the ±2 which are considered the acceptable limits of a normal distribution. No variables exceeded the cutoffs of ±2 ( Table 1 ).

Correlations

The conducted analysis with the use of Pearson’s r correlation coefficient ( Table 2 ) showed statistically significant ( p < 0.01) correlations between all measured variables.

Obtained Values of the Pearson Correlation Coefficient Between the Analyzed Variables

Note : *** p < 0.001.

A high and positive correlation coefficient was obtained between the variables self-esteem and life satisfaction ( r = 0.73). The level of self-esteem correlated positively with the style of self-promotion ( r = 0.46) and negatively with the style of self-deprecation (r = −0.63). A similar relationship was observed between life satisfaction and both styles of self-presentation – self-promotion ( r = 0.37) and self-deprecation ( r = −0.42).

Mediation Analyses

The conducted two simple mediation analyses showed statistically significant values of standardized regression coefficients for both models ( Table 3 ). The regression coefficient between the independent variable and the dependent variable had a high and positive initial value (β = 0.75; p < 0.001). The strength of the total indirect effect was higher for the model with the self-deprecation style as a mediator (total indirect effect = 0.18) than for the self-presentation tactics based on self-promotion (total indirect effect = 0.07). For both analyzed models, the confidence interval did not contain the value “0”, which proves their statistical significance.

Results of Mediation Analyses for Both Models (Standardized Values)

Abbreviations : LS, life satisfaction; SE, self-esteem; SP, self-promotion; SD, self-deprecation.

For the first model (LS-SP-SE), positive and statistically significant ( p < 0.001) values of the regression coefficients were observed between life satisfaction (X) and self-promotion (M) – path a (β = 0.47), and between the style of self-promotion (M) and self-esteem (Y) – path b (β = 0.17). After adding the mediator in the form of self-promotion tactics to the analyzed dependencies, the initial value of the regression coefficient decreased from β = 0.75 (c) to β = 0.67 (c’) without changing the significance level.

Correspondingly, in the second analyzed model, statistically significant ( p < 0.001) and negative standardized values of regression coefficients were identified between the variable life satisfaction (X) and self-deprecation (M) – path a (β = −0.56) and self-deprecation (M) and self-esteem (Y) – path b (β = −0.32). Moreover, according to the obtained higher value of the total indirect effect for the second model, the initial value of the regression between the independent and the dependent variable (β = 0.76) decreased to a greater extent than in the case of the first analyzed model (β = 0.58).

The present research confirmed that: life satisfaction positively relates to self-esteem (H1) and self-promotion (H2), life satisfaction is negatively associated with self-deprecation (H2), and both self-promotion and self-deprecation act as mediators between life satisfaction and self-esteem (H3).

Firstly, it is comprehensible that considering one’s own life satisfactory and successful might reinforce the belief of young adults as good and worthy. In fact, different studies have shown that self-esteem increases when people achieve their desired aims, 90 , 91 gain job promotions, 92 feel they are doing well in life, 93 effectively cope with psychological threats, 94 have self-perceived competence, 95 maintain good interpersonal relationships, 58 and receive appreciative 90 and meaningful messages from significant others. 96 All of these antecedents, considered as factors that make up life satisfaction, have a significant impact on people’s subjective sense of personal value. In fact, life satisfaction includes social interactions, health and career, 97 and overall evaluation of these different components correlates with self-esteem.

Secondly, the positive relationship between life satisfaction and self-promotion can be understood in the context of Regulatory Focus Theory, which implies that promotion-oriented individuals tend to progress in life and fulfill their expectations. 98 Moreover, empirical findings have shown that promotion-focused individuals report experiencing higher levels of life satisfaction across different cultures. 99 In turn, the negative correlation between self-deprecation and life satisfaction can be understood through studies of the sense of inferiority, incompetence or unworthiness. For example, it has been found that dissatisfaction with one’s life is related to feelings of inadequacy, 100 self-deprecation, 101 and poor self-concept. 102

Finally, the mediatory role of self-promotion and self-deprecation suggests that the direct relationship between life satisfaction and self-esteem may be affected by these two self-presentation styles. In other words, it can be cautiously assumed that an overall sense of satisfaction with one’s own life can lead to higher self-esteem when young people are aware of and show their strengths and talents. There is considerable data showing that global evaluation of life positively correlates with positive self-concept 52 and self-presentation involves improved self-esteem. 103 Govindji and Harrington (p. 144) 104 observe that “when we use our strengths, we feel good about ourselves, we are better able to achieve things, and we are working toward fulfilling our potential.” Likewise, lower life satisfaction can elicit less positive self-esteem when people tend to undervalue their capabilities. This outcome is in line with some theoretical foundations and empirical evidence. For example, Powers and Zuroff 106 have claimed that persistent and evident negative self-presentation decreases an already fragile sense of self-esteem. Therefore, the process of self-presentation by which people intentionally portray themselves 105 might reinforce or weaken the link between overall satisfaction and self-esteem.

Limitations

Some limitations of this study need to be listed. First, the current research relied on self-report measures and could be limited by self-report biases. The use of other vectors for assessment (eg: parents, partners, friends) may reduce the impact of subjectivity and strengthen these outcomes. Second, the sample narrowed to young adults, and prevalently women does not permit the results to be generalized. Therefore, future studies should consider encompassing more distinct samples to provide more generalizable outcomes. Finally, the study was not longitudinal and thus it is implausible to infer causal relations among life satisfaction, self-esteem, and self-presentation.

Conclusions and Implications

The present study highlights the importance of considering the mediatory role of self-presentation on the relationship between life satisfaction and self-esteem. Our findings provide preliminary evidence that a subjective assessment of the quality of people’s life can have a greater impact on their overall sense of worth and value when they improve their strengths and talents. Conversely, people’s positive evaluations of their life may have a weaker effect on their opinion of themselves when they feel incompetent or insecure. Self-promotion and self-deprecation, as two important dimensions of self-presentation, act as psychological mechanisms that underlie the direct relationship between life satisfaction and self-esteem.

There are also several compelling implications that can be drawn from this study. The first one concerns the way of thinking about life satisfaction as an antecedent of self-esteem. The present result suggests that the relationship between both constructs is more complex (the majority of studies have shown that self-esteem predicted life satisfaction, rather than vice versa) and reciprocal (here, we have obtained life satisfaction as a predictor of self-esteem) and both life satisfaction and self-esteem may have a circular impact on one another. The second implication is related to the aspect of self-presentation as a mediator. Given that self-promotion and self-depreciation are expressions of the authentic (subjective) self and the people’s actual beliefs about themselves, 57 it seems important to consider their role in the assessment of the overall quality of life satisfaction and overall self-esteem.

Acknowledgment

The authors thank the study participants.

Data Sharing Statement

The datasets used during the current study are available from the corresponding author.

Author Contributions

All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Impression Management: Erving Goffman Theory

Charlotte Nickerson

Research Assistant at Harvard University

Undergraduate at Harvard University

Charlotte Nickerson is a student at Harvard University obsessed with the intersection of mental health, productivity, and design.

Learn about our Editorial Process

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

On This Page:

• Impression management refers to the goal-directed conscious or unconscious attempt to influence the perceptions of other people about a person, object, or event by regulating and controlling information in social interaction.
• Generally, people undertake impression management to achieve goals that require they have a desired public image. This activity is called self-presentation.
• In sociology and social psychology, self-presentation is the conscious or unconscious process through which people try to control the impressions other people form of them.
• The goal is for one to present themselves the way in which they would like to be thought of by the individual or group they are interacting with. This form of management generally applies to the first impression.
• Erving Goffman popularized the concept of perception management in his book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life , where he argues that impression management not only influences how one is treated by other people but is an essential part of social interaction.

Impression Management in Sociology

Impression management, also known as self-presentation, refers to the ways that people attempt to control how they are perceived by others (Goffman, 1959).

By conveying particular impressions about their abilities, attitudes, motives, status, emotional reactions, and other characteristics, people can influence others to respond to them in desirable ways.

Impression management is a common way for people to influence one another in order to obtain various goals.

While earlier theorists (e.g., Burke, 1950; Hart & Burk, 1972) offered perspectives on the person as a performer, Goffman (1959) was the first to develop a specific theory concerning self-presentation.

In his well-known work, Goffman created the foundation and the defining principles of what is commonly referred to as impression management.

In explicitly laying out a purpose for his work, Goffman (1959) proposes to “consider the ways in which the individual in ordinary work situations presents himself and his activity to others, the ways in which he guides and controls the impression they form of him, and the kind of things he may or may not do while sustaining his performance before them.” (p. xi)

Social Interaction

Goffman viewed impression management not only as a means of influencing how one is treated by other people but also as an essential part of social interaction.

He communicates this view through the conceit of theatre. Actors give different performances in front of different audiences, and the actors and the audience cooperate in negotiating and maintaining the definition of a situation.

To Goffman, the self was not a fixed thing that resides within individuals but a social process. For social interactions to go smoothly, every interactant needs to project a public identity that guides others’ behaviors (Goffman, 1959, 1963; Leary, 2001; Tseelon, 1992).

Goffman defines that when people enter the presence of others, they communicate information by verbal intentional methods and by non-verbal unintentional methods.

According to Goffman, individuals participate in social interactions through performing a “line” or “a pattern of verbal and nonverbal acts by which he expresses his view of the situation and through this his evaluation of the participants, especially himself” (1967, p. 5).

Such lines are created and maintained by both the performer and the audience. By enacting a line effectively, a person gains positive social value or “face.”

The verbal intentional methods allow us to establish who we are and what we wish to communicate directly. We must use these methods for the majority of the actual communication of data.

Goffman is mostly interested in the non-verbal clues given off which are less easily manipulated. When these clues are manipulated the receiver generally still has the upper hand in determining how realistic the clues that are given off are.

People use these clues to determine how to treat a person and if the intentional verbal responses given off are actually honest. It is also known that most people give off clues that help to represent them in a positive light, which tends to be compensated for by the receiver.

Impression Management Techniques

• Suppressing emotions : Maintaining self-control (which we will identify with such practices as speaking briefly and modestly).
• Conforming to Situational Norms : The performer follows agreed-upon rules for behavior in the organization.
• Flattering Others : The performer compliments the perceiver. This tactic works best when flattery is not extreme and when it involves a dimension important to the perceiver.
• Being Consistent : The performer’s beliefs and behaviors are consistent. There is agreement between the performer’s verbal and nonverbal behaviors.

Self-Presentation Examples

Self-presentation can affect the emotional experience . For example, people can become socially anxious when they are motivated to make a desired impression on others but doubt that they can do so successfully (Leary, 2001).

In one paper on self-presentation and emotional experience, Schlenker and Leary (1982) argue that, in contrast to the drive models of anxiety, the cognitive state of the individual mediates both arousal and behavior.

The researchers examine the traditional inverted-U anxiety-performance curve (popularly known as the Yerkes-Dodson law) in this light.

The researchers propose that people are interpersonally secure when they do not have the goal of creating a particular impression on others.

They are not immediately concerned about others’ evaluative reactions in a social setting where they are attempting to create a particular impression and believe that they will be successful in doing so.

Meanwhile, people are anxious when they are uncertain about how to go about creating a certain impression (such as when they do not know what sort of attributes the other person is likely to be impressed with), think that they will not be able to project the types of images that will produce preferred reactions from others.

Such people think that they will not be able to project the desired image strongly enough or believe that some event will happen that will repudiate their self-presentations, causing reputational damage (Schlenker and Leary, 1982).

Psychologists have also studied impression management in the context of mental and physical health .

In one such study, Braginsky et al. (1969) showed that those hospitalized with schizophrenia modify the severity of their “disordered” behavior depending on whether making a more or less “disordered” impression would be most beneficial to them (Leary, 2001).

Additional research on university students shows that people may exaggerate or even fabricate reports of psychological distress when doing so for their social goals.

Hypochondria appears to have self-presentational features where people convey impressions of illness and injury, when doing so helps to drive desired outcomes such as eliciting support or avoiding responsibilities (Leary, 2001).

People can also engage in dangerous behaviors for self-presentation reasons such as suntanning, unsafe sex, and fast driving. People may also refuse needed medical treatment if seeking this medical treatment compromises public image (Leary et al., 1994).

Key Components

There are several determinants of impression management, and people have many reasons to monitor and regulate how others perceive them.

For example, social relationships such as friendship, group membership, romantic relationships, desirable jobs, status, and influence rely partly on other people perceiving the individual as being a particular kind of person or having certain traits.

Because people’s goals depend on them making desired impressions over undesired impressions, people are concerned with the impressions other people form of them.

Although people appear to monitor how they come across ongoingly, the degree to which they are motivated to impression manage and the types of impressions they try to foster varies by situation and individuals (Leary, 2001).

Leary and Kowalski (1990) say that there are two processes that constitute impression management, each of which operate according to different principles and are affected by different situations and dispositional aspects. The first of these processes is impression motivation, and the second is impression construction.

Impression Motivation

There are three main factors that affect how much people are motivated to impression-manage in a situation (Leary and Kowalski, 1990):

(1) How much people believe their public images are relevant to them attaining their desired goals.

When people believe that their public image is relevant to them achieving their goals, they are generally more motivated to control how others perceive them (Leary, 2001).

Conversely, when the impressions of other people have few implications on one’s outcomes, that person’s motivation to impression-manage will be lower.

This is why people are more likely to impression manage in their interactions with powerful, high-status people than those who are less powerful and have lower status (Leary, 2001).

(2) How valuable the goals are: people are also more likely to impress and manage the more valuable the goals for which their public impressions are relevant (Leary, 2001).

(3) how much of a discrepancy there is between how they want to be perceived and how they believe others perceive them..

People are more highly motivated to impression-manage when there is a difference between how they want to be perceived and how they believe others perceive them.

For example, public scandals and embarrassing events that convey undesirable impressions can cause people to make self-presentational efforts to repair what they see as their damaged reputations (Leary, 2001).

Impression Construction

Features of the social situations that people find themselves in, as well as their own personalities, determine the nature of the impressions that they try to convey.

In particular, Leary and Kowalski (1990) name five sets of factors that are especially important in impression construction (Leary, 2001).

Two of these factors include how people’s relationships with themselves (self-concept and desired identity), and three involve how people relate to others (role constraints, target value, and current or potential social image) (Leary and Kowalski, 1990).

Self-concept

The impressions that people try to create are influenced not only by social context but also by one’s own self-concept .

People usually want others to see them as “how they really are” (Leary, 2001), but this is in tension with the fact that people must deliberately manage their impressions in order to be viewed accurately by others (Goffman, 1959).

People’s self-concepts can also constrain the images they try to convey.

People often believe that it is unethical to present impressions of themselves different from how they really are and generally doubt that they would successfully be able to sustain a public image inconsistent with their actual characteristics (Leary, 2001).

This risk of failure in portraying a deceptive image and the accompanying social sanctions deter people from presenting impressions discrepant from how they see themselves (Gergen, 1968; Jones and Pittman, 1982; Schlenker, 1980).

People can differ in how congruent their self-presentations are with their self-perceptions.

People who are high in public self-consciousness have less congruency between their private and public selves than those lower in public self-consciousness (Tunnell, 1984; Leary and Kowalski, 1990).

Desired identity

People’s desired and undesired selves – how they wish to be and not be on an internal level – also influence the images that they try to project.

Schlenker (1985) defines a desirable identity image as what a person “would like to be and thinks he or she really can be, at least at his or her best.”

People have a tendency to manage their impressions so that their images coincide with their desired selves and stay away from images that coincide with their undesired selves (Ogilivie, 1987; Schlenker, 1985; Leary, 2001).

This happens when people publicly claim attributes consistent with their desired identity and openly reject identities that they do not want to be associated with.

For example, someone who abhors bigots may take every step possible to not appear bigoted, and Gergen and Taylor (1969) showed that high-status navel cadets did not conform to low-status navel cadets because they did not want to see themselves as conformists (Leary and Kowalski, 1990).

Target value

people tailor their self-presentations to the values of the individuals whose perceptions they are concerned with.

This may lead to people sometimes fabricating identities that they think others will value.

However, more commonly, people selectively present truthful aspects of themselves that they believe coincide with the values of the person they are targeting the impression to and withhold information that they think others will value negatively (Leary, 2001).

Role constraints

the content of people’s self-presentations is affected by the roles that they take on and the norms of their social context.

In general, people want to convey impressions consistent with their roles and norms .

Many roles even carry self-presentational requirements around the kinds of impressions that the people who hold the roles should and should not convey (Leary, 2001).

Current or potential social image

People’s public image choices are also influenced by how they think they are perceived by others. As in impression motivation, self-presentational behaviors can often be aimed at dispelling undesired impressions that others hold about an individual.

When people believe that others have or are likely to develop an undesirable impression of them, they will typically try to refute that negative impression by showing that they are different from how others believe them to be.

When they are not able to refute this negative impression, they may project desirable impressions in other aspects of their identity (Leary, 2001).

Implications

In the presence of others, few of the behaviors that people make are unaffected by their desire to maintain certain impressions. Even when not explicitly trying to create a particular impression of themselves, people are constrained by concerns about their public image.

Generally, this manifests with people trying not to create undesired impressions in virtually all areas of social life (Leary, 2001).

Tedeschi et al. (1971) argued that phenomena that psychologists previously attributed to peoples’ need to have cognitive consistency actually reflected efforts to maintain an impression of consistency in others’ eyes.

Studies have supported Tedeschi and their colleagues’ suggestion that phenomena previously attributed to cognitive dissonance were actually affected by self-presentational processes (Schlenker, 1980).

Psychologists have applied self-presentation to their study of phenomena as far-ranging as conformity, aggression, prosocial behavior, leadership, negotiation, social influence, gender, stigmatization, and close relationships (Baumeister, 1982; Leary, 1995; Schlenker, 1980; Tedeschi, 1981).

Each of these studies shows that people’s efforts to make impressions on others affect these phenomena, and, ultimately, that concerns self-presentation in private social life.

For example, research shows that people are more likely to be pro-socially helpful when their helpfulness is publicized and behave more prosocially when they desire to repair a damaged social image by being helpful (Leary, 2001).

In a similar vein, many instances of aggressive behavior can be explained as self-presentational efforts to show that someone is willing to hurt others in order to get their way.

This can go as far as gender roles, for which evidence shows that men and women behave differently due to the kind of impressions that are socially expected of men and women.

Baumeister, R. F. (1982). A self-presentational view of social phenomena. Psychological Bulletin, 91, 3-26.

Braginsky, B. M., Braginsky, D. D., & Ring, K. (1969). Methods of madness: The mental hospital as a last resort. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Buss, A. H., & Briggs, S. (1984). Drama and the self in social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 1310-1324. Gergen, K. J. (1968). Personal consistency and the presentation of self. In C. Gordon & K. J. Gergen (Eds.), The self in social interaction (Vol. 1, pp. 299-308). New York: Wiley.

Gergen, K. J., & Taylor, M. G. (1969). Social expectancy and self-presentation in a status hierarchy. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 5, 79-92.

Goffman, E. (1959). The moral career of the mental patient. Psychiatry, 22(2), 123-142.

• Goffman, E. (1963). Embarrassment and social organization.

Goffman, E. (1978). The presentation of self in everyday life (Vol. 21). London: Harmondsworth.

Goffman, E. (2002). The presentation of self in everyday life. 1959. Garden City, NY, 259.

Martey, R. M., & Consalvo, M. (2011). Performing the looking-glass self: Avatar appearance and group identity in Second Life. Popular Communication, 9 (3), 165-180.

Jones E E (1964) Ingratiation. Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York.

Jones, E. E., & Pittman, T. S. (1982). Toward a general theory of strategic self-presentation. Psychological perspectives on the self, 1(1), 231-262.

Leary M R (1995) Self-presentation: Impression Management and Interpersonal Behaior. Westview Press, Boulder, CO.

Leary, M. R.. Impression Management, Psychology of, in Smelser, N. J., & Baltes, P. B. (Eds.). (2001). International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences (Vol. 11). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Leary, M. R., & Kowalski, R. M. (1990). Impression management: A literature review and two-component model. Psychological bulletin, 107(1), 34.

Leary M R, Tchvidjian L R, Kraxberger B E 1994 Self-presentation may be hazardous to your health. Health Psychology 13: 461–70.

Ogilvie, D. M. (1987). The undesired self: A neglected variable in personality research. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 379-385.

• Schlenker, B. R. (1980). Impression management (Vol. 222). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Schlenker, B. R. (1985). Identity and self-identification. In B. R. Schlenker (Ed.), The self and social life (pp. 65-99). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Schlenker, B. R., & Leary, M. R. (1982). Social anxiety and self-presentation: A conceptualization model. Psychological bulletin, 92(3), 641.

Tedeschi, J. T, Smith, R. B., Ill, & Brown, R. C., Jr. (1974). A reinterpretation of research on aggression. Psychological Bulletin, 81, 540- 563.

Tseëlon, E. (1992). Is the presented self sincere? Goffman, impression management and the postmodern self. Theory, culture & society, 9(2), 115-128.

Tunnell, G. (1984). The discrepancy between private and public selves: Public self-consciousness and its correlates. Journal of Personality Assessment, 48, 549-555.

Further Information

• Solomon, J. F., Solomon, A., Joseph, N. L., & Norton, S. D. (2013). Impression management, myth creation and fabrication in private social and environmental reporting: Insights from Erving Goffman. Accounting, organizations and society, 38(3), 195-213.
• Gardner, W. L., & Martinko, M. J. (1988). Impression management in organizations. Journal of management, 14(2), 321-338.
• Scheff, T. J. (2005). Looking‐Glass self: Goffman as symbolic interactionist. Symbolic interaction, 28(2), 147-166.

71 Self-presentation

[latexpage]

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Describe social roles and how they influence behavior
• Explain what social norms are and how they influence behavior
• Define script
• Describe the findings of Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment

As you’ve learned, social psychology is the study of how people affect one another’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. We have discussed situational perspectives and social psychology’s emphasis on the ways in which a person’s environment, including culture and other social influences, affect behavior. In this section, we examine situational forces that have a strong influence on human behavior including social roles, social norms, and scripts. We discuss how humans use the social environment as a source of information, or cues, on how to behave. Situational influences on our behavior have important consequences, such as whether we will help a stranger in an emergency or how we would behave in an unfamiliar environment.

SOCIAL ROLES

One major social determinant of human behavior is our social roles. A social role is a pattern of behavior that is expected of a person in a given setting or group (Hare, 2003). Each one of us has several social roles. You may be, at the same time, a student, a parent, an aspiring teacher, a son or daughter, a spouse, and a lifeguard. How do these social roles influence your behavior? Social roles are defined by culturally shared knowledge. That is, nearly everyone in a given culture knows what behavior is expected of a person in a given role. For example, what is the social role for a student? If you look around a college classroom you will likely see students engaging in studious behavior, taking notes, listening to the professor, reading the textbook, and sitting quietly at their desks ( [link] ). Of course you may see students deviating from the expected studious behavior such as texting on their phones or using Facebook on their laptops, but in all cases, the students that you observe are attending class—a part of the social role of students.

Social roles, and our related behavior, can vary across different settings. How do you behave when you are engaging in the role of son or daughter and attending a family function? Now imagine how you behave when you are engaged in the role of employee at your workplace. It is very likely that your behavior will be different. Perhaps you are more relaxed and outgoing with your family, making jokes and doing silly things. But at your workplace you might speak more professionally, and although you may be friendly, you are also serious and focused on getting the work completed. These are examples of how our social roles influence and often dictate our behavior to the extent that identity and personality can vary with context (that is, in different social groups) (Malloy, Albright, Kenny, Agatstein & Winquist, 1997).

SOCIAL NORMS

As discussed previously, social roles are defined by a culture’s shared knowledge of what is expected behavior of an individual in a specific role. This shared knowledge comes from social norms. A social norm is a group’s expectation of what is appropriate and acceptable behavior for its members—how they are supposed to behave and think (Deutsch & Gerard, 1955; Berkowitz, 2004). How are we expected to act? What are we expected to talk about? What are we expected to wear? In our discussion of social roles we noted that colleges have social norms for students’ behavior in the role of student and workplaces have social norms for employees’ behaviors in the role of employee. Social norms are everywhere including in families, gangs, and on social media outlets. What are some social norms on Facebook?

My 11-year-old daughter, Jessica, recently told me she needed shorts and shirts for the summer, and that she wanted me to take her to a store at the mall that is popular with preteens and teens to buy them. I have noticed that many girls have clothes from that store, so I tried teasing her. I said, “All the shirts say ‘Aero’ on the front. If you are wearing a shirt like that and you have a substitute teacher, and the other girls are all wearing that type of shirt, won’t the substitute teacher think you are all named ‘Aero’?”

My daughter replied, in typical 11-year-old fashion, “Mom, you are not funny. Can we please go shopping?”

I tried a different tactic. I asked Jessica if having clothing from that particular store will make her popular. She replied, “No, it will not make me popular. It is what the popular kids wear. It will make me feel happier.” How can a label or name brand make someone feel happier? Think back to what you’ve learned about lifespan development . What is it about pre-teens and young teens that make them want to fit in ( [link] )? Does this change over time? Think back to your high school experience, or look around your college campus. What is the main name brand clothing you see? What messages do we get from the media about how to fit in?

Because of social roles, people tend to know what behavior is expected of them in specific, familiar settings. A script is a person’s knowledge about the sequence of events expected in a specific setting (Schank & Abelson, 1977). How do you act on the first day of school, when you walk into an elevator, or are at a restaurant? For example, at a restaurant in the United States, if we want the server’s attention, we try to make eye contact. In Brazil, you would make the sound “psst” to get the server’s attention. You can see the cultural differences in scripts. To an American, saying “psst” to a server might seem rude, yet to a Brazilian, trying to make eye contact might not seem an effective strategy. Scripts are important sources of information to guide behavior in given situations. Can you imagine being in an unfamiliar situation and not having a script for how to behave? This could be uncomfortable and confusing. How could you find out about social norms in an unfamiliar culture?

ZIMBARDO’S STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT

The famous Stanford prison experiment , conducted by social psychologist Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues at Stanford University, demonstrated the power of social roles, social norms, and scripts. In the summer of 1971, an advertisement was placed in a California newspaper asking for male volunteers to participate in a study about the psychological effects of prison life. More than 70 men volunteered, and these volunteers then underwent psychological testing to eliminate candidates who had underlying psychiatric issues, medical issues, or a history of crime or drug abuse. The pool of volunteers was whittled down to 24 healthy male college students. Each student was paid $15 per day and was randomly assigned to play the role of either a prisoner or a guard in the study. Based on what you have learned about research methods, why is it important that participants were randomly assigned?

A mock prison was constructed in the basement of the psychology building at Stanford. Participants assigned to play the role of prisoners were “arrested” at their homes by Palo Alto police officers, booked at a police station, and subsequently taken to the mock prison. The experiment was scheduled to run for several weeks. To the surprise of the researchers, both the “prisoners” and “guards” assumed their roles with zeal. In fact, on day 2, some of the prisoners revolted, and the guards quelled the rebellion by threatening the prisoners with night sticks. In a relatively short time, the guards came to harass the prisoners in an increasingly sadistic manner, through a complete lack of privacy, lack of basic comforts such as mattresses to sleep on, and through degrading chores and late-night counts.

The prisoners, in turn, began to show signs of severe anxiety and hopelessness—they began tolerating the guards’ abuse. Even the Stanford professor who designed the study and was the head researcher, Philip Zimbardo, found himself acting as if the prison was real and his role, as prison supervisor, was real as well. After only six days, the experiment had to be ended due to the participants’ deteriorating behavior. Zimbardo explained,

At this point it became clear that we had to end the study. We had created an overwhelmingly powerful situation—a situation in which prisoners were withdrawing and behaving in pathological ways, and in which some of the guards were behaving sadistically. Even the “good” guards felt helpless to intervene, and none of the guards quit while the study was in progress. Indeed, it should be noted that no guard ever came late for his shift, called in sick, left early, or demanded extra pay for overtime work. (Zimbardo, 2013)

The Stanford prison experiment demonstrated the power of social roles, norms, and scripts in affecting human behavior. The guards and prisoners enacted their social roles by engaging in behaviors appropriate to the roles: The guards gave orders and the prisoners followed orders. Social norms require guards to be authoritarian and prisoners to be submissive. When prisoners rebelled, they violated these social norms, which led to upheaval. The specific acts engaged by the guards and the prisoners derived from scripts. For example, guards degraded the prisoners by forcing them do push-ups and by removing all privacy. Prisoners rebelled by throwing pillows and trashing their cells. Some prisoners became so immersed in their roles that they exhibited symptoms of mental breakdown; however, according to Zimbardo, none of the participants suffered long term harm (Alexander, 2001).

The Stanford Prison Experiment has some parallels with the abuse of prisoners of war by U.S. Army troops and CIA personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison in 2003 and 2004. The offenses at Abu Ghraib were documented by photographs of the abuse, some taken by the abusers themselves ( [link] ).

Visit this website to hear an NPR interview with Philip Zimbardo where he discusses the parallels between the Stanford prison experiment and the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Human behavior is largely influenced by our social roles, norms, and scripts. In order to know how to act in a given situation, we have shared cultural knowledge of how to behave depending on our role in society. Social norms dictate the behavior that is appropriate or inappropriate for each role. Each social role has scripts that help humans learn the sequence of appropriate behaviors in a given setting. The famous Stanford prison experiment is an example of how the power of the situation can dictate the social roles, norms, and scripts we follow in a given situation, even if this behavior is contrary to our typical behavior.

Review Questions

A(n) ________ is a set of group expectations for appropriate thoughts and behaviors of its members.

• social role
• social norm
• attribution

On his first day of soccer practice, Jose suits up in a t-shirt, shorts, and cleats and runs out to the field to join his teammates. Jose’s behavior is reflective of ________.

• social influence
• good athletic behavior
• normative behavior

When it comes to buying clothes, teenagers often follow social norms; this is likely motivated by ________.

• following parents’ rules
• saving money
• looking good

In the Stanford prison experiment, even the lead researcher succumbed to his role as a prison supervisor. This is an example of the power of ________ influencing behavior.

• social norms
• social roles

Critical Thinking Questions

Why didn’t the “good” guards in the Stanford prison experiment object to other guards’ abusive behavior? Were the student prisoners simply weak people? Why didn’t they object to being abused?

The good guards were fulfilling their social roles and they did not object to other guards’ abusive behavior because of the power of the situation. In addition, the prison supervisor’s behavior sanctioned the guards’ negative treatment of prisoners. The prisoners were not weak people; they were recruited because they were healthy, mentally stable adults. The power of their social role influenced them to engage in subservient prisoner behavior. The script for prisoners is to accept abusive behavior from authority figures, especially for punishment, when they do not follow the rules.

Describe how social roles, social norms, and scripts were evident in the Stanford prison experiment. How can this experiment be applied to everyday life? Are there any more recent examples where people started fulfilling a role and became abusive?

Social roles were in play as each participant acted out behaviors appropriate to his role as prisoner, guard, or supervisor. Scripts determined the specific behaviors the guards and prisoners displayed, such as humiliation and passivity. The social norms of a prison environment sanctions abuse of prisoners since they have lost many of their human rights and became the property of the government. This experiment can be applied to other situations in which social norms, roles, and scripts dictate our behavior, such as in mob behavior. A more recent example of similar behavior was the abuse of prisoners by American soldiers who were working as prison guards at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Personal Application Questions

Try attending a religious service very different from your own and see how you feel and behave without knowing the appropriate script. Or, try attending an important, personal event that you have never attended before, such as a bar mitzvah (a coming-of-age ritual in Jewish culture), a quinceañera (in some Latin American cultures a party is given to a girl who is turning 15 years old), a wedding, a funeral, or a sporting event new to you, such as horse racing or bull riding. Observe and record your feelings and behaviors in this unfamiliar setting for which you lack the appropriate script. Do you silently observe the action, or do you ask another person for help interpreting the behaviors of people at the event? Describe in what ways your behavior would change if you were to attend a similar event in the future?

Name and describe at least three social roles you have adopted for yourself. Why did you adopt these roles? What are some roles that are expected of you, but that you try to resist?

Share This Book

• Increase Font Size

• Search Menu
• Browse content in Arts and Humanities
• Browse content in Archaeology
• Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Archaeology
• Archaeological Methodology and Techniques
• Archaeology by Region
• Archaeology of Religion
• Archaeology of Trade and Exchange
• Biblical Archaeology
• Contemporary and Public Archaeology
• Environmental Archaeology
• Historical Archaeology
• History and Theory of Archaeology
• Industrial Archaeology
• Landscape Archaeology
• Mortuary Archaeology
• Prehistoric Archaeology
• Underwater Archaeology
• Urban Archaeology
• Zooarchaeology
• Browse content in Architecture
• Architectural Structure and Design
• History of Architecture
• Residential and Domestic Buildings
• Theory of Architecture
• Browse content in Art
• Art Subjects and Themes
• History of Art
• Industrial and Commercial Art
• Theory of Art
• Biographical Studies
• Byzantine Studies
• Browse content in Classical Studies
• Classical History
• Classical Philosophy
• Classical Mythology
• Classical Literature
• Classical Reception
• Classical Art and Architecture
• Classical Oratory and Rhetoric
• Greek and Roman Papyrology
• Greek and Roman Epigraphy
• Greek and Roman Law
• Greek and Roman Archaeology
• Late Antiquity
• Religion in the Ancient World
• Digital Humanities
• Browse content in History
• Colonialism and Imperialism
• Diplomatic History
• Environmental History
• Genealogy, Heraldry, Names, and Honours
• Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing
• Historical Geography
• History by Period
• History of Emotions
• History of Agriculture
• History of Education
• History of Gender and Sexuality
• Industrial History
• Intellectual History
• International History
• Labour History
• Legal and Constitutional History
• Local and Family History
• Maritime History
• Military History
• National Liberation and Post-Colonialism
• Oral History
• Political History
• Public History
• Regional and National History
• Revolutions and Rebellions
• Slavery and Abolition of Slavery
• Social and Cultural History
• Theory, Methods, and Historiography
• Urban History
• World History
• Browse content in Language Teaching and Learning
• Language Learning (Specific Skills)
• Language Teaching Theory and Methods
• Browse content in Linguistics
• Applied Linguistics
• Cognitive Linguistics
• Computational Linguistics
• Forensic Linguistics
• Grammar, Syntax and Morphology
• Historical and Diachronic Linguistics
• History of English
• Language Evolution
• Language Reference
• Language Acquisition
• Language Variation
• Language Families
• Lexicography
• Linguistic Anthropology
• Linguistic Theories
• Linguistic Typology
• Phonetics and Phonology
• Psycholinguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• Translation and Interpretation
• Writing Systems
• Browse content in Literature
• Bibliography
• Children's Literature Studies
• Literary Studies (Romanticism)
• Literary Studies (American)
• Literary Studies (Asian)
• Literary Studies (European)
• Literary Studies (Eco-criticism)
• Literary Studies (Modernism)
• Literary Studies - World
• Literary Studies (1500 to 1800)
• Literary Studies (19th Century)
• Literary Studies (20th Century onwards)
• Literary Studies (African American Literature)
• Literary Studies (British and Irish)
• Literary Studies (Early and Medieval)
• Literary Studies (Fiction, Novelists, and Prose Writers)
• Literary Studies (Gender Studies)
• Literary Studies (Graphic Novels)
• Literary Studies (History of the Book)
• Literary Studies (Plays and Playwrights)
• Literary Studies (Poetry and Poets)
• Literary Studies (Postcolonial Literature)
• Literary Studies (Queer Studies)
• Literary Studies (Science Fiction)
• Literary Studies (Travel Literature)
• Literary Studies (War Literature)
• Literary Studies (Women's Writing)
• Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
• Mythology and Folklore
• Shakespeare Studies and Criticism
• Browse content in Media Studies
• Browse content in Music
• Applied Music
• Dance and Music
• Ethics in Music
• Ethnomusicology
• Gender and Sexuality in Music
• Medicine and Music
• Music Cultures
• Music and Media
• Music and Religion
• Music and Culture
• Music Education and Pedagogy
• Music Theory and Analysis
• Musical Scores, Lyrics, and Libretti
• Musical Structures, Styles, and Techniques
• Musicology and Music History
• Performance Practice and Studies
• Race and Ethnicity in Music
• Sound Studies
• Browse content in Performing Arts
• Browse content in Philosophy
• Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art
• Epistemology
• Feminist Philosophy
• History of Western Philosophy
• Metaphysics
• Moral Philosophy
• Non-Western Philosophy
• Philosophy of Language
• Philosophy of Mind
• Philosophy of Perception
• Philosophy of Science
• Philosophy of Action
• Philosophy of Law
• Philosophy of Religion
• Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic
• Practical Ethics
• Social and Political Philosophy
• Browse content in Religion
• Biblical Studies
• Christianity
• East Asian Religions
• History of Religion
• Judaism and Jewish Studies
• Qumran Studies
• Religion and Education
• Religion and Health
• Religion and Politics
• Religion and Science
• Religion and Law
• Religion and Art, Literature, and Music
• Religious Studies
• Browse content in Society and Culture
• Cookery, Food, and Drink
• Cultural Studies
• Customs and Traditions
• Ethical Issues and Debates
• Hobbies, Games, Arts and Crafts
• Lifestyle, Home, and Garden
• Natural world, Country Life, and Pets
• Popular Beliefs and Controversial Knowledge
• Sports and Outdoor Recreation
• Technology and Society
• Travel and Holiday
• Visual Culture
• Browse content in Law
• Arbitration
• Browse content in Company and Commercial Law
• Commercial Law
• Company Law
• Browse content in Comparative Law
• Systems of Law
• Competition Law
• Browse content in Constitutional and Administrative Law
• Government Powers
• Judicial Review
• Local Government Law
• Military and Defence Law
• Parliamentary and Legislative Practice
• Construction Law
• Contract Law
• Browse content in Criminal Law
• Criminal Procedure
• Criminal Evidence Law
• Sentencing and Punishment
• Employment and Labour Law
• Environment and Energy Law
• Browse content in Financial Law
• Banking Law
• Insolvency Law
• History of Law
• Human Rights and Immigration
• Intellectual Property Law
• Browse content in International Law
• Private International Law and Conflict of Laws
• Public International Law
• IT and Communications Law
• Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law
• Law and Politics
• Law and Society
• Browse content in Legal System and Practice
• Courts and Procedure
• Legal Skills and Practice
• Primary Sources of Law
• Regulation of Legal Profession
• Medical and Healthcare Law
• Browse content in Policing
• Criminal Investigation and Detection
• Police and Security Services
• Police Procedure and Law
• Police Regional Planning
• Browse content in Property Law
• Personal Property Law
• Study and Revision
• Terrorism and National Security Law
• Browse content in Trusts Law
• Wills and Probate or Succession
• Browse content in Medicine and Health
• Browse content in Allied Health Professions
• Arts Therapies
• Clinical Science
• Dietetics and Nutrition
• Occupational Therapy
• Operating Department Practice
• Physiotherapy
• Radiography
• Speech and Language Therapy
• Browse content in Anaesthetics
• General Anaesthesia
• Neuroanaesthesia
• Clinical Neuroscience
• Browse content in Clinical Medicine
• Acute Medicine
• Cardiovascular Medicine
• Clinical Genetics
• Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
• Dermatology
• Endocrinology and Diabetes
• Gastroenterology
• Genito-urinary Medicine
• Geriatric Medicine
• Infectious Diseases
• Medical Toxicology
• Medical Oncology
• Pain Medicine
• Palliative Medicine
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Respiratory Medicine and Pulmonology
• Rheumatology
• Sleep Medicine
• Sports and Exercise Medicine
• Community Medical Services
• Critical Care
• Emergency Medicine
• Forensic Medicine
• Haematology
• History of Medicine
• Browse content in Medical Skills
• Clinical Skills
• Communication Skills
• Nursing Skills
• Surgical Skills
• Browse content in Medical Dentistry
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Paediatric Dentistry
• Restorative Dentistry and Orthodontics
• Surgical Dentistry
• Medical Ethics
• Medical Statistics and Methodology
• Browse content in Neurology
• Clinical Neurophysiology
• Neuropathology
• Nursing Studies
• Browse content in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• Gynaecology
• Occupational Medicine
• Ophthalmology
• Otolaryngology (ENT)
• Browse content in Paediatrics
• Neonatology
• Browse content in Pathology
• Chemical Pathology
• Clinical Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics
• Histopathology
• Medical Microbiology and Virology
• Patient Education and Information
• Browse content in Pharmacology
• Psychopharmacology
• Browse content in Popular Health
• Caring for Others
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• Self-help and Personal Development
• Browse content in Preclinical Medicine
• Cell Biology
• Molecular Biology and Genetics
• Reproduction, Growth and Development
• Primary Care
• Professional Development in Medicine
• Browse content in Psychiatry
• Addiction Medicine
• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Forensic Psychiatry
• Learning Disabilities
• Old Age Psychiatry
• Psychotherapy
• Browse content in Public Health and Epidemiology
• Epidemiology
• Public Health
• Browse content in Radiology
• Clinical Radiology
• Interventional Radiology
• Nuclear Medicine
• Radiation Oncology
• Reproductive Medicine
• Browse content in Surgery
• Cardiothoracic Surgery
• Gastro-intestinal and Colorectal Surgery
• General Surgery
• Neurosurgery
• Paediatric Surgery
• Peri-operative Care
• Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• Surgical Oncology
• Transplant Surgery
• Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery
• Vascular Surgery
• Browse content in Science and Mathematics
• Browse content in Biological Sciences
• Aquatic Biology
• Biochemistry
• Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
• Developmental Biology
• Ecology and Conservation
• Evolutionary Biology
• Genetics and Genomics
• Microbiology
• Molecular and Cell Biology
• Natural History
• Plant Sciences and Forestry
• Research Methods in Life Sciences
• Structural Biology
• Systems Biology
• Zoology and Animal Sciences
• Browse content in Chemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Computational Chemistry
• Crystallography
• Environmental Chemistry
• Industrial Chemistry
• Inorganic Chemistry
• Materials Chemistry
• Medicinal Chemistry
• Mineralogy and Gems
• Organic Chemistry
• Physical Chemistry
• Polymer Chemistry
• Study and Communication Skills in Chemistry
• Theoretical Chemistry
• Browse content in Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Architecture and Logic Design
• Game Studies
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Mathematical Theory of Computation
• Programming Languages
• Software Engineering
• Systems Analysis and Design
• Virtual Reality
• Browse content in Computing
• Business Applications
• Computer Security
• Computer Games
• Computer Networking and Communications
• Digital Lifestyle
• Graphical and Digital Media Applications
• Operating Systems
• Browse content in Earth Sciences and Geography
• Atmospheric Sciences
• Environmental Geography
• Geology and the Lithosphere
• Maps and Map-making
• Meteorology and Climatology
• Oceanography and Hydrology
• Palaeontology
• Physical Geography and Topography
• Regional Geography
• Soil Science
• Urban Geography
• Browse content in Engineering and Technology
• Agriculture and Farming
• Biological Engineering
• Civil Engineering, Surveying, and Building
• Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Energy Technology
• Engineering (General)
• Environmental Science, Engineering, and Technology
• History of Engineering and Technology
• Mechanical Engineering and Materials
• Technology of Industrial Chemistry
• Transport Technology and Trades
• Browse content in Environmental Science
• Applied Ecology (Environmental Science)
• Conservation of the Environment (Environmental Science)
• Environmental Sustainability
• Environmentalist Thought and Ideology (Environmental Science)
• Management of Land and Natural Resources (Environmental Science)
• Natural Disasters (Environmental Science)
• Nuclear Issues (Environmental Science)
• Pollution and Threats to the Environment (Environmental Science)
• Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Environmental Science)
• History of Science and Technology
• Browse content in Materials Science
• Ceramics and Glasses
• Composite Materials
• Metals, Alloying, and Corrosion
• Nanotechnology
• Browse content in Mathematics
• Applied Mathematics
• Biomathematics and Statistics
• History of Mathematics
• Mathematical Education
• Mathematical Finance
• Mathematical Analysis
• Numerical and Computational Mathematics
• Probability and Statistics
• Pure Mathematics
• Browse content in Neuroscience
• Cognition and Behavioural Neuroscience
• Development of the Nervous System
• Disorders of the Nervous System
• History of Neuroscience
• Invertebrate Neurobiology
• Molecular and Cellular Systems
• Neuroendocrinology and Autonomic Nervous System
• Neuroscientific Techniques
• Sensory and Motor Systems
• Browse content in Physics
• Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
• Biological and Medical Physics
• Classical Mechanics
• Computational Physics
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Electromagnetism, Optics, and Acoustics
• History of Physics
• Mathematical and Statistical Physics
• Measurement Science
• Nuclear Physics
• Particles and Fields
• Plasma Physics
• Quantum Physics
• Relativity and Gravitation
• Semiconductor and Mesoscopic Physics
• Browse content in Psychology
• Affective Sciences
• Clinical Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Criminal and Forensic Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Evolutionary Psychology
• Health Psychology
• History and Systems in Psychology
• Music Psychology
• Neuropsychology
• Organizational Psychology
• Psychological Assessment and Testing
• Psychology of Human-Technology Interaction
• Psychology Professional Development and Training
• Research Methods in Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Browse content in Social Sciences
• Browse content in Anthropology
• Anthropology of Religion
• Human Evolution
• Medical Anthropology
• Physical Anthropology
• Regional Anthropology
• Social and Cultural Anthropology
• Theory and Practice of Anthropology
• Browse content in Business and Management
• Business Ethics
• Business Strategy
• Business History
• Business and Technology
• Business and Government
• Business and the Environment
• Comparative Management
• Corporate Governance
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Entrepreneurship
• Health Management
• Human Resource Management
• Industrial and Employment Relations
• Industry Studies
• Information and Communication Technologies
• International Business
• Knowledge Management
• Management and Management Techniques
• Operations Management
• Organizational Theory and Behaviour
• Pensions and Pension Management
• Public and Nonprofit Management
• Strategic Management
• Supply Chain Management
• Browse content in Criminology and Criminal Justice
• Criminal Justice
• Criminology
• Forms of Crime
• International and Comparative Criminology
• Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
• Development Studies
• Browse content in Economics
• Agricultural, Environmental, and Natural Resource Economics
• Asian Economics
• Behavioural Finance
• Behavioural Economics and Neuroeconomics
• Econometrics and Mathematical Economics
• Economic History
• Economic Systems
• Economic Methodology
• Economic Development and Growth
• Financial Markets
• Financial Institutions and Services
• General Economics and Teaching
• Health, Education, and Welfare
• History of Economic Thought
• International Economics
• Labour and Demographic Economics
• Law and Economics
• Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics
• Microeconomics
• Public Economics
• Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics
• Welfare Economics
• Browse content in Education
• Adult Education and Continuous Learning
• Care and Counselling of Students
• Early Childhood and Elementary Education
• Educational Equipment and Technology
• Educational Strategies and Policy
• Higher and Further Education
• Organization and Management of Education
• Philosophy and Theory of Education
• Schools Studies
• Secondary Education
• Teaching of a Specific Subject
• Teaching of Specific Groups and Special Educational Needs
• Teaching Skills and Techniques
• Browse content in Environment
• Applied Ecology (Social Science)
• Climate Change
• Conservation of the Environment (Social Science)
• Environmentalist Thought and Ideology (Social Science)
• Natural Disasters (Environment)
• Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Social Science)
• Browse content in Human Geography
• Cultural Geography
• Economic Geography
• Political Geography
• Browse content in Interdisciplinary Studies
• Communication Studies
• Museums, Libraries, and Information Sciences
• Browse content in Politics
• African Politics
• Asian Politics
• Chinese Politics
• Comparative Politics
• Conflict Politics
• Elections and Electoral Studies
• Environmental Politics
• European Union
• Foreign Policy
• Gender and Politics
• Human Rights and Politics
• Indian Politics
• International Relations
• International Organization (Politics)
• International Political Economy
• Irish Politics
• Latin American Politics
• Middle Eastern Politics
• Political Behaviour
• Political Economy
• Political Institutions
• Political Methodology
• Political Communication
• Political Philosophy
• Political Sociology
• Political Theory
• Politics and Law
• Public Policy
• Public Administration
• Quantitative Political Methodology
• Regional Political Studies
• Russian Politics
• Security Studies
• State and Local Government
• UK Politics
• US Politics
• Browse content in Regional and Area Studies
• African Studies
• Asian Studies
• East Asian Studies
• Japanese Studies
• Latin American Studies
• Middle Eastern Studies
• Native American Studies
• Scottish Studies
• Browse content in Research and Information
• Research Methods
• Browse content in Social Work
• Addictions and Substance Misuse
• Adoption and Fostering
• Care of the Elderly
• Child and Adolescent Social Work
• Couple and Family Social Work
• Developmental and Physical Disabilities Social Work
• Direct Practice and Clinical Social Work
• Emergency Services
• Human Behaviour and the Social Environment
• International and Global Issues in Social Work
• Mental and Behavioural Health
• Social Justice and Human Rights
• Social Policy and Advocacy
• Social Work and Crime and Justice
• Social Work Macro Practice
• Social Work Practice Settings
• Social Work Research and Evidence-based Practice
• Welfare and Benefit Systems
• Browse content in Sociology
• Childhood Studies
• Community Development
• Comparative and Historical Sociology
• Economic Sociology
• Gender and Sexuality
• Gerontology and Ageing
• Health, Illness, and Medicine
• Marriage and the Family
• Migration Studies
• Occupations, Professions, and Work
• Organizations
• Population and Demography
• Race and Ethnicity
• Social Theory
• Social Movements and Social Change
• Social Research and Statistics
• Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility
• Sociology of Religion
• Sociology of Education
• Sport and Leisure
• Urban and Rural Studies
• Browse content in Warfare and Defence
• Defence Strategy, Planning, and Research
• Land Forces and Warfare
• Military Administration
• Military Life and Institutions
• Naval Forces and Warfare
• Other Warfare and Defence Issues
• Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution
• Weapons and Equipment

• < Previous chapter
• Next chapter >

13 Self-Presentation and Social Influence: Evidence for an Automatic Process

Purdue University, Department of Psychological Sciences

• Published: 10 September 2015
• Cite Icon Cite
• Permissions Icon Permissions

Self-presentation is a social influence tactic in which people engage in communicative efforts to influence the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of others as related to the self-presenter. Despite theoretical arguments that such efforts comprise an automatic component, the majority of research continues to characterize self-presentation as primarily involving controlled and strategic efforts. This focus is theoretically challenging and empirically problematic; it fosters an exclusionary perspective, leading to a scarcity of research concerning automatic self-presentations. With the current chapter, we examine whether self-presentation involves an automatic cognitive mechanism in which such efforts spontaneously emerge, nonconsciously triggered by cues in the social environment.

In his classic work, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life , Erving Goffman (1959) popularized the concept of self-presentation, describing social life as a series of behavioral performances that symbolically communicate information about the self to others. Since the publication of this seminal work, research on self-presentation has bourgeoned, emerging as a fundamental topic in social psychology, as well as numerous other disciplines ranging from communication to organizational behavior and management. The breadth of work ranges from examining “the targets of people’s self-presentation attempts to the levels of awareness at which self-presentation efforts may be enacted” ( DePaulo, 1992 , p. 204).

Although theorists frame self-presentation from slightly different theoretical perspectives, there is agreement that the overarching goal of self-presentation falls under the umbrella of social influence, in that people’s self-presentations are aimed at influencing how others perceive them and behave toward them. Leary and Kowalski (1990) succinctly capture this goal in their characterization of self-presentation as including “all behavioral attempts to create impressions in others’ minds” (p. 39). The reason why people self-present is built on their recognition that the impressions others hold of them have important influences on desired outcomes ranging across a variety of life domains. Conveying desired identity-images provides a framework for people’s social relationships, holds direct and indirect implications for the achievement of occupational and financial goals, and satisfies important intra- and interpersonal functions ( Leary, Allen, & Terry, 2011 ; Schlenker, 2003 ). In all, self-presentation is a social influence tactic in which people engage in efforts to influence the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of others as applied and related to the self-presenter.

There is abundant research examining various aspects of self-presentation; however, the literature remains replete with a number of entrenched misconceptions. One particularly persistent belief that continues to plague self-presentation research involves the implicit or explicit assumption that most if not all self-presentation involves conscious and deliberate efforts. The definitional words that researchers use to characterize self-presentation typically emphasize and focus on words like controlling, deliberate , and strategic . Self-presentation efforts are also frequently described as people trying to or attempting to influence the impression others form of them. Even Goffman (1959) defined self-presentation as a process in which people strategically control the inferences that others draw about them. We argue that the obvious face value of these types of words are heavily skewed toward controlled and deliberate efforts, and as such have exerted both an unbalanced and inaccurate influence on the resulting direction that most empirical research lines follow.

Although there has been a good deal of theoretical discussion focused on automatic self-presentation, there is a scarcity of empirical work, and the degree to which this work supports the viability of an automatic self-presentational component has not been fully vetted or reviewed. In this chapter, we focus on evaluating the hypothesis that the self-presentation process involves an automatic cognitive mechanism in which people spontaneously engage in automatic self-presentational efforts. We examine whether automatic self-presentations emerge of their own accord nonconsciously triggered by context cues, in the absence of direct instructional prompts. We also seek to actively draw attention to the dearth of empirical work examining automatic self-presentation; by doing so we hope to encourage researchers to more fully explore this vitally important feature of interpersonal behavior. To foreshadow our overall conclusion, although some evidence supports the general tenets of automatic self-presentation, it remains unclear empirically whether such efforts are truly emerging via a nonconscious mechanism. The key elements concerning such a mechanism relate primarily to the awareness (i.e., behavior is activated outside of conscious awareness) and involuntary (i.e., behavior is initiated by certain cues or prompts in the situation) features of automaticity as described by Bargh (1996) .

Our summary to date clearly begs the question: Why is construing self-presentation as primarily involving controlled and strategic actions, while giving short shrift to nonconscious efforts, necessarily a problem? To reiterate, self-presentations are typically described as involving controlled and deliberate actions that are grounded in the implicit or explicit belief that self-presentation includes only conscious efforts that are meant to explicitly influence others’ impressions. We argue that characterizing self-presentation as solely deliberate has the negative consequence of fostering an exclusionary research perspective, which results in severely limiting research attention to a narrower bandwidth of social situations. Such a narrow conceptual approach characterizes self-presentation as primarily occurring only in limited situations in which people are deliberately trying to control the conveyance of self-information to others. Put differently, if people are not consciously trying to communicate a desired image, it is simply assumed they are not engaging in self-presentation at all (see Schlenker, 2003 ).

These fundamental constraints shape and impact the theoretical and conceptual foundations of most self-presentation research. The majority of paradigms explicitly and directly provide participants with self-presentational instructions, narrowly focusing empirical attention on controlled and deliberate self-presentational efforts. Participants are instructed to consciously think about the particular impression they are trying to convey, and of importance, the impression per se becomes the focal goal, rather than framing the presented identity as a means to achieve another type of valued goal ( Leary et al., 2011 ).

Emphasizing that self-presentations comprise only controlled and strategic efforts also further promotes one of the most widespread misconceptions about self-presentation, which holds that such efforts are inherently false, manipulative, and duplicitous. Although certainly self-presentations can involve deception, for the most part, people’s efforts reflect an accurate, if slightly embellished portrayal of themselves ( Back et al., 2010 ; Leary & Allen, 2011 ; Wilson, Gosling, & Graham, 2012 ).

Our summary is not meant to suggest that examining controlled self-presentations has been an unproductive strategy; such approaches have generated useful and valuable findings concerning basic self-presentational processes. Nonetheless, we argue that adopting a limited conceptualization of self-presentation as primarily involving controlled efforts results in an artificially narrow empirical framework. This serves to restrict the field of inquiry to arguably only a small and specific slice of self-presentation behavior, while relatively ignoring the broader automatic component ( Leary et al., 2011 ; Schlenker, 2003 ). Focusing on the strategically controlled aspects of self-presentation has left a lingering theoretical residual, resulting in forceful, but misguided assumptions that continue to reinforce and propagate the common misperception that all, or at least most of self-presentation involves conscious and deliberate efforts.

However, like most other social behaviors, self-presentation has also been characterized in theoretical terms as comprising dual processes involving conscious and nonconscious behaviors (e.g., Leary & Kowalski, 1990 ; Paulhus, 1993 ; Schlenker, 2003 ). In that spirit, theorists argue that self-presentations more often occur in an automatic rather than controlled fashion, and that the intentions underlying the initiation of such efforts do not necessarily have to be conscious. For instance, Paulhus (1993) suggests an automatic path for self-presentation that focuses on people’s tendency to communicate overly positive self-descriptions; Hogan (1983) proposed that self-presentational efforts often involve automatic and modularized behavior, unfolding in a nonconscious fashion; Baumeister (1982) posited that the intention behind self-presentation need not be conscious; while Leary and Kowalski (1990) suggest that people nonconsciously monitor others’ impressions of them and engage in automatic self-presentation when impression-relevant cues are detected.

Schlenker (2003) also proposed that context cues guide self-presentations outside of conscious awareness and trigger interpersonal goals, behavior, and motivation, and once activated, these nonconscious efforts continue until the desired goal or outcome is achieved. Schlenker goes on to argue that many self-presentations are characteristic of goal-dependent forms of automatic behavior. Evidence concerning social behavior, in general, shows that “goal pursuit can arise from mental processes put into motion by features of the social environment outside of conscious awareness … with the assumption that goals are represented in mental structures that include the context, the goal, and the actions to aid goal pursuit, and thus goals can be triggered automatically by relevant environmental stimuli” ( Custers & Aarts, 2005 , p. 129). The goal activation sequence and the operations to obtain a particular goal can unfold in the absence of a person’s intention or awareness.

In much the same manner, self-presentations can be conceptualized as being nonconsciously activated by features of the social environment ( Schlenker, 2003 ). This suggests that self-presentations comprise cognitive structures that include the context, the goal, and the actions to achieve the goal, and like other social behaviors, these efforts can be automatically triggered by environmental stimuli. People strive to achieve a self-presentation goal, although they are often not aware that such efforts have been activated. As a result, they do not characterize their behavior as self-presentation, in that they do not view themselves as self-consciously and purposefully trying to achieve impression-oriented goals. A key element underscoring automatic self-presentations is the assertion that such efforts comprise “behaviors that consist of modulated, habit-formed patterns of action” or consist of “an individual’s most well-practiced set of self-attributes” ( Paulhus, 1993 , p. 576; Schlenker & Pontari, 2000 , p. 205). Characterizing automatic self-presentations as habitual patterns of behavior finds broad conceptual support from the more general theorizing on habitual responding. For example, theorists’ perspective concerning the relationship between context-cueing and self-presentational efforts dovetails nicely with the general framework of habit performance as outlined in Wood and Neal’s (2007) habit model. We will highlight conceptual areas of relevance where appropriate, focusing attention on propositions drawn from Wood and Neal’s model. In summary, theorists argue that self-presentations can unfold in an automatic or habitual manner via a context-cueing process; these efforts are guided outside of conscious awareness when interpersonal goals, behavior, and motivation are automatically triggered by context cues in the social environment. Once activated, people’s self-presentations persist until the desired goal is achieved.

Our goal, in the sections to follow, is to examine the degree to which relevant literature supports the proposition of an automatic self-presentational process (for more controlled aspects, see Schlenker, Britt, & Pennington, 1996 ; Schlenker, & Pontari, 2000 ). Before delving into the empirical evidence, we first briefly outline one theoretical perspective—the self-identification theory—that provides a succinct and integrative framework to conceptualize and illustrate the processes and mechanisms thought to be involved in automatic self-presentation (Schlenker, 1985 , 2003 ). Although there are other automatic self-presentation models (e.g., Paulhus, 1993 ), the self-identification theory is arguably the most comprehensive one; areas of overlap with other approaches will be noted where appropriate.

Self-Identification Theory

Self-identification theory characterizes self-presentation as a common and pervasive feature of social life in which self-identification is broadly described as the process with which people attempt to demonstrate that they are a particular type of person. More formally, self-presentation is defined as a “goal-directed activity in which people communicate identity-images for themselves with audiences by behaving in ways that convey certain roles and personal qualities. They do so in order to influence the impressions that others form of them” ( Schlenker, 2003 , p. 492). The communication of identity-images provides a framework for people’s relationships, holds direct and indirect implications for the outcomes and goals that people receive, and satisfies valued intra- and interpersonal functions. Self-identification theory posits that communicating specific identity-images, via self-presentation, is a key aspect of interpersonal interactions.

Identity-images are desirable in that they typically embody what people would like to be within the parameters of their abilities, appearance, and history. These images often involve beneficial self-identifications that are structured to serve a person’s interpersonal goals ( Schlenker, 2003 ). In the parlance of self-identification theory the combination of a desired identity-image and a corresponding behavioral script is defined as an agenda , which is activated by context cues in the social environment ( Schlenker, 2003 ).

Although people are frequently motivated to achieve multiple agendas, the limits of cognitive capacity minimize the number of agendas that can simultaneously occupy the foreground of attention ( Paulhus, 1993 ). Some agendas necessarily receive greater attention, effort, and monitoring than others, with those considered more relevant operating in the foreground and those of less concern unfolding in the background. Imagine a computer running numerous programs—some open, contents displayed and attentively monitored and examined, whereas others are minimized, operating behind the scenes, working on tasks but not distracting the operator unless a reason or purpose to check them arises (this metaphor is borrowed from Schlenker & Pontari, 2000 ). In a similar fashion, agendas focusing on self-presentation concerns, involving the goal of communicating a particular impression to an audience, can be more or less in the foreground of conscious awareness. This leads us directly to an overview of background-automatic and foreground-controlled modes of self-presentation as described in the self-identification theory.

Foreground Self-Presentation

Self-presentation agendas that operate in the foreground are characterized as involving consciously controlled attention, with people exerting significant cognitive resources to plan and implement their behaviors. Such efforts consume cognitive attention by requiring people to first access self-information, after doing so they must synthesize and integrate the information in a manner relevant to an interaction and prepare it for expression; people make judgments about what to say and about how to communicate it to others. In doing so, people stay more alert and aware, consciously scanning and monitoring the environment to assess their behaviors and audience reactions. They engage in these efforts, in part, to accomplish the goal of communicating desired identity-images. Foreground self-presentations represent those occasions that people are most likely to report being on stage and consciously concerned with the impression they project to others ( Schlenker, 2003 ).

The antecedent conditions that direct self-presentation agendas to operate in the foreground involve broad features of the situation, the audience, and people’s interaction goals. People more thoroughly process a social situation when they perceive that the situation is important, in that their performance bears on their desired identity; involves positive or negative outcomes; or is relevant to valued role expectations. The motivation to process a situation is also more likely to increase when people expect or encounter a potential impediment (e.g., critical audience) to achieving their desired self-presentation goals ( Schlenker et al., 1996 ). This outline of foreground self-presentations is consistent with Paulhus’s (1993) description of controlled self-presentations; he posits that such efforts require attentional resources to consider one’s desired self-presentation goal and the target audience, prior to the delivery of any particular self-description. In summary, self-presentation agendas become salient, moving from the background to the foreground when the context is perceived as important or when obstacles impede the successful communication of a desired identity-image ( Schlenker et al., 1994 ).

Background Self-Presentation

In contrast and key to the current chapter, self-presentation agendas that operate in the background are conceptualized as automatically guided by goal-directed behavior, operating with minimal conscious cognitive attention or effort. This representation is akin to Bargh’s (1996) proposition that “automatic processes can be intentional; well-learned social scripts and social action sequences can be guided by intended, goal-dependent automaticity,” which refers to an autonomous process that requires the intention that an action occur, but requires no conscious guidance once the action begins to operate (p. 174). Like Bargh, Schlenker (2003) argues that self-presentations with familiar others, or those involving well-learned behavioral patterns and scripts, are characteristic of an intended, goal-dependent form of automaticity. Here, self-presentations involve an automatic process in which cues in the social milieu direct self-presentations in the absence of conscious awareness and trigger interpersonal goals, behavior, and motivation. Once activated, these efforts are maintained until the desired goal or outcome is achieved ( Paulhus, Graf, & Van Selst, 1989 ; Schlenker, 2003 ).

Theorists propose that background self-presentation agendas are automatically activated based on overlearned responses to social contingencies. This description is similar to Paulhus’s (1993) idea that automatic self-presentation is a residual of overlearned situationally specific self-presentations. These overlearned responses include scripts that provide an efficient and nonconscious guidance system to construct a desired identity-image. Context-contingent cues (e.g., audience) converge in the background to trigger automatic self-presentation agendas. People are often not aware that these efforts have been activated and, as a result, do not characterize their communications or behavior as self-presentation, in that they do not view themselves as self-consciously and effortfully attempting to achieve impression-oriented goals ( Schlenker et al., 1996 ).

While background self-presentation agendas unfold, people nonconsciously monitor their behavior and the audience’s responses to ensure a proper construal of a desired impression. For these automatic efforts to be overridden by conscious, controlled processing, at least two requirements need to occur. First, people must be motivated to think or act differently than what occurs automatically, and second, they must have the cognitive resources to support the flexible, relatively unusual sequence of actions ( Schlenker, 2003 ). If a deviation from a social script or an impediment is detected, the agenda can pop into the foreground. As a result, attention is drawn to conscious awareness to correct the misimpression and to achieve one’s self-presentation goals, shifting self-presentation agendas from a background to a foreground mode of operation. This attention-drawing process is akin to Paulhus’s (1993) automatic self-presentation model, where affect regulates that attention is directed toward any glitch in an activity that is currently unfolding via an automatic process.

Characterizing automatic self-presentation as habit-like is also consistent with theoretical descriptions of habits in general, as outlined in Wood and Neal’s (2007) habit model. They argue that the “automaticity underlying habits builds on patterns of repeated covariation between the features of performance contexts and responses—that is, habits are defined as learned dispositions to repeat past responses” (Wood & Neal, p. 843). Once the habitual response is created, it can be triggered when an individual perceives relevant cues that are embedded in the performance context. Even though habits are not necessarily mediated by a goal, they can also advance the original goal that first impelled people to repetitively perform the context-response, which in effect resulted in the formation of the habit ( Aarts & Dijksterhuis, 2000 ; Verplanken & Aarts, 1999 ). Habits and goals interface, in that habit associations are initially formed under the guidance of goals: “goals direct control of responses prior to habit formation, and thus define the cuing contexts under which a response is repeated into a habit” (p. 851). Theorists posit that self-presentations can become so well practiced that they operate like mindless habits that are triggered nonconsciously by environmental cues and unfold in an automatic fashion, similar to the operational processes associated with habit responding as described by Wood and Neal.

Having outlined the theoretical foundation for automatic self-presentations, we now examine research germane to the key question underscoring the current chapter: Do automatic self-presentations emerge of their own accord nonconsciously triggered by context cues, in the absence of direct instructional prompts? Following a review of this evidence, we provide discussion and critical assessment.

Evidence for Automatic Self-Presentation

Although the self-presentation literature includes a voluminous number of studies, the vast majority does not include measurements or manipulations that can be interpreted as depicting automatic self-presentation. Rather, previous work primarily centered on identifying self-presentation strategies, discerning when self-presentation will or will not occur, and determining whether such efforts communicate self-beliefs accurately or in a self-serving manner, promote self-consistency or maximize self-esteem, or depict self-enhancement or self-protective purposes (see Schlenker et al., 1996 ). There are a number of studies, however, that either directly involve the manipulation of self-presentational automaticity or focus attention on self-presentation behaviors that can be viewed as unfolding via an automatic process. Review of these studies will be divided into sections; the first four relate to the availability of cognitive resources during self-presentation and its effect on recall, self-presentation effectiveness, reaction times , and self-description , followed by sections focused on the availability of self-regulatory resources during self-presentations and the implicit activation of self-presentational efforts.

The first four sections examine the cognitive effects of automatic self-presentation, beginning with the general concept that there is a limit to people’s cognitive resources, and effectively attending to simultaneous activities that require cognitive effort is difficult ( Bargh, 1996 ). These limitations in cognitive capacity enable researchers to use empirical methods to investigate the differences between automatic and controlled self-presentations. Introducing a second, cognitively effortful activity generates nominal interference with a concurrent task if a process is automatic; however, this second task significantly interrupts the ongoing efforts if the process is controlled.

The Availability of Cognitive Resources during Self-Presentation and Its Effect on Recall

Given the proposition that automaticity consumes minimal cognitive resources, it follows that people should be able to more efficiently process information when delivering automatic self-presentations. To override these automatic efforts, however, more controlled self-presentations require an increase in cognitive resources ( Schlenker, 2003 ). As a result, controlled rather than automatic self-presentations may disrupt the processing of information ( Schlenker, 1986 ). To demonstrate empirically the presence of automatic self-presentations, the studies in this first section focus on the differential effects of automatic and controlled self-presentations on subsequent recall.

It is important to preface the studies that address this issue by emphasizing that Western norms typically favor positive self-presentations (e.g., Schlenker, 1980 ; see also Baumeister & Jones, 1978 ; Jones & Wortman, 1973 ). People are far more practiced at conveying a self-promoting identity-image (i.e., automatic self-presentation) rather than a self-depreciating one (i.e., controlled self-presentation). Self-promotion efforts would be expected to leave more cognitive resources available to process information and ultimately should have less negative impact on recall. However, engaging in self-deprecation—a controlled self-presentation—should remove the automaticity of self-presentation, increasing the demand for cognitive resources. These expectations found support across a series of studies in which participants displayed significantly better recall of interaction details when their social interaction comprised automatic compared to controlled self-presentations ( Baumeister, Hutton, & Tice, 1989 ).

Evidence also indicates that a key determinant of people’s self-presentations is whether an interaction involves strangers or friends ( Tice, Butler, Muraven, & Stillwell, 1995 ). From this work we know that certain constraints and contingencies position the communication of a favorable image as the optimal way to self-present to strangers, whereas a more modest identity approach prevails among friends. If these self-presentation patterns are habitually used, they should be relatively automatic, requiring minimal cognitive resources for encoding, leading to more accurate recall. Violation of these patterns, however, should trigger controlled self-presentations, requiring more cognitive resources, consequently impairing accurate recall. Like Baumeister et al., (1989) , this work also shows that when participants engaged in automatic self-presentations— they interacted with a stranger in a self-promoting manner or with a friend in a modest manner —their recall of interaction details was significantly better compared to when they engaged in controlled self-presentations— they interacted with a stranger in a modest fashion or with a friend in a self-promoting manner . Follow-up studies replicated these results and additionally demonstrated that even when recalling a stranger’s behavior people made fewer recall errors when engaged in automatic self-presentations rather than controlled ones ( Tice et al., 1995 ).

The Availability of Cognitive Resources during Self-Presentation and Its Effect on Self-Presentational Effectiveness

The studies in the prior section demonstrate that the automatic-controlled self-presentation process involves the availability of cognitive resources and, in part, familiarity with the self-presentational context. Automatic self-presentations are characterized by familiar and habitual self-presentations, which require minimal cognitive resources. It follows that under low cognitive demand people should be able to engage effectively in the self-presentation of familiar identity-images but also unfamiliar ones as well. In contrast, controlled self-presentations are characterized by unfamiliar and atypical self-presentations, which require increased cognitive resources. It can then be reasoned that under high cognitive demand people’s capacity to engage effectively in the self-presentation of unfamiliar identity-images will be negatively impacted, whereas the effectiveness of self-presenting a familiar identity-image should not suffer. To demonstrate an automatic self-presentation process, the studies in the second section focus on the effect that automatic and controlled self-presentations have on people’s self-presentational effectiveness.

In this first set of studies, Pontari and Schlenker (2000) interviewed extraverted and introverted individuals under low- or high-cognitive load conditions. As part of the instructions, these individuals were told to convey either an extraverted or introverted identity-image to the interviewer. It was thought that participants who enacted congruent self-presentations, for example, an extravert acting as an extravert, were acting consistently with their self-schemata. They delivered familiar and relatively automatic self-presentations, requiring minimal cognitive resources. In contrast, those who enacted incongruent self-presentations, for example, an extravert acting as an introvert, were acting inconsistently with their self-schemata. They delivered unfamiliar and relatively controlled self-presentations, requiring an increase in cognitive resources.

The results from these studies indicated that for extraverts and introverts alike, the self-presentation of congruent and familiar identities was successfully achieved in both the high- and low-cognitive-load conditions. Extraverts were also successful at self-presenting incongruent identities when they had sufficient cognitive resources available, that is, in the low-cognitive-load condition. However, extraverts were unable to successfully self-present incongruent and unfamiliar identities when they lacked the requisite cognitive resources, that is, in the high-cognitive-load condition. By comparison, an unexpected finding showed that introverts were successful at self-presenting incongruent and unfamiliar identities even when they lacked available cognitive resources. Pontari and Schlenker (2000) posited that the increased cognitive load interrupted introverts’ dysfunctional thoughts, which would have otherwise interfered with their capacity to engage effectively in controlled self-presentations. The additional mental tasks in the high-cognitive-load condition may have shifted introverts’ attention from negative self-ruminations to more dispassionate thoughts. This shift in attention may have allowed introverts to successfully enact a social performance that was relatively incongruent with their automatic pattern of self-presentational responses.

The Availability of Cognitive Resources during Self-Presentation and Its Effect on Reaction Times

A set of studies consistent with Pontari and Schlenker’s (2000) notion of self-presentations as congruent or incongruent with self-schema were carried out by Holden and colleagues ( 1992 , 2001 ). These studies focused on reaction times rather than self-presentational effectiveness to demonstrate automatic and controlled self-presentation processes. Participants were instructed to respond quickly to self-descriptive personality items in a manner that would make them appear either very well adjusted or not well adjusted. When participants made responses that were incongruent with a self-schema—conveying a favorable impression via socially undesirable items or an unfavorable impression via socially desirable items—their reaction times were slower. When they made responses that were congruent with a self-schema—conveying a favorable impression via socially desirable items or an unfavorable impression via socially undesirable items—their reaction times were faster.

These findings show that responding in a manner incongruent with a self-schema requires the availability of cognitive resources, whereas responding in a congruent manner consumes minimal cognitive resources and attention. The data also support the presence of a cognitive mechanism that is fast and efficient, and a cognitive override mechanism that is slower and intentional, which they suggest are consistent with the processes described in Paulhus’s (1993) automatic and controlled self-presentation model ( Holden, Wood, & Tomashewski, 2001 ). In Paulhus’s work, “automatic processes are those that are so well rehearsed that they are fast, oriented toward positive self-presentations, and operate without attention, whereas controlled processes are much slower and require increased attention” ( Holden et al., 2001 , p. 167).

The Availability of Cognitive Resources during Self-Presentations and Its Effect on Self-Descriptions

Other programs of research (e.g., Paulhus & Levitt, 1987 ) also posit that controlled self-presentations occur when attentional capacity is available, whereas automatic self-presentations emerge when attentional capacity is relatively limited. Controlled self-presentations are thought to involve conscious self-descriptions that are adjusted to fit situational demands with such efforts requiring available cognitive resources and attentional capacity. Automatic self-presentations, in contrast, are posited to involve nonconscious default responses that are characterized by the communication of overly positive self-descriptions. These efforts require minimal cognitive attention and resources, primarily because they consist of well-practiced and chronically activated self-descriptions ( Paulhus, 1993 ).

To examine these ideas, a series of studies were conducted in which participants provided self-descriptive ratings on positive, negative, or neutral traits while in a high- or low-cognitive-load condition ( Paulhus, 1993 ; Paulhus et al., 1989 ; Paulhus & Levitt, 1987 ). Results showed that participants in the high-cognitive-load condition endorsed more positive than negative traits. They were also significantly faster at both endorsing positive and denying negative traits when their resources and attention were focused on other tasks. Put differently, when cognitive attention was diverted, only a default set of positive self-descriptions was left available for automatic self-presentations. Paulhus (1993) concluded that increasing cognitive demands can trigger automatic self-presentations in which people are more likely and quicker to claim positive traits and deny negative ones.

In a similar fashion, cognitive capacity is also required for honest trait responding—it takes attentional resources to scan one’s memory for accurate responses. If cognitive demands are increased, attention is diverted and honest trait responding can be disrupted. But the subsequent responses are not random; they are systematically more positive and emerge from the positive automatic self. Evidence from a number of studies shows that participants instructed to engage in controlled self-presentations produced more positive self-descriptions in a high- compared to low-cognitive-load condition (e.g., Paulhus & Murphy, unpublished data ). These findings support the assertion that automatic self-presentations are activated when controlled self-presentations are disrupted by an increase in cognitive demands.

To examine this idea further, a second study experimentally created automatic self-presentation patterns and then tested whether these patterns reappeared under cognitive load ( Paulhus, Bruce, & Stoffer, 1990 ). To induce a new automatic-self, participants practiced communicating overly positive self-descriptions, negative self-descriptions, or honest self-descriptions by repeatedly responding to a set of 12 traits. Subsequently, participants were told to forget what they did during this practice phase and to instead respond honestly to the 12 traits (i.e., controlled self-presentation). During a first test, participants were given as much time as they wanted to respond, a low-cognitive-load condition, whereas in a second test they were told to answer as fast as possible, a high-cognitive-load condition. Results showed that the automatization effects that were created in the initial practice phase emerged in the high-cognitive-load condition but not in the low-cognitive-load condition. When controlled self-presentations were disrupted, automatic self-presentations appeared, as evidenced by the automatic self emerging only during the high-cognitive-load condition.

Another line of evidence also shows that people positively bias their descriptions of self-associated stimuli, and they do so without conscious awareness ( Koole, Dijksterhuis, & van Knippenberg, 2001 ). Theorists posit that early self-descriptions shape later self-descriptions by structuring self-relevant cognitions and behavior into working models, which can be nonconsciously activated ( Mikulincer, 1995 ). These models are conceptualized as an integral part of automatic self-presentations, typifying people’s most well-practiced and chronically activated self-descriptions ( Paulhus, 1993 ). When encountering self-associated stimuli, people’s positively biased self-descriptions can be automatically triggered and, as such, can be characterized as automatic self-presentations. If people lack available cognitive capacity, their self-descriptions of self-associated stimuli may reflect implicit and automatic efforts, whereas, if sufficient cognitive resources are available, self-descriptions may reflect more explicit and controlled efforts ( Koole et al., 2001 ).

These ideas were tested in two studies by examining the relationship between implicit self-positivity and explicit self-descriptions. Implicit self-positivity was measured by the name-letter bias ( Kitayama & Karasawa, 1997 ) and explicit self-description by participants’ self-ratings on positive, negative, or neutral trait words ( Paulhus & Levitt, 1987 ). With respect to the explicit measure, quickly delivered self-descriptions were characterized as automatic self-presentations, and slowly delivered self-descriptions were characterized as controlled self-presentations, primarily because automatic processing requires less time than controlled processing. It was expected and found that implicit self-positivity only matched the explicit self-descriptions when the trait self-ratings were quickly delivered but not when they were slowly delivered.

A second study mirrored the results of the first by manipulating the availability of cognitive resources rather than the delivery speed of explicit self-descriptions. Specifically, participants under a high cognitive load (vs. low cognitive load) displayed greater congruence between implicit and explicit self-descriptions. When cognitive resources were limited, it increased the self-positivity of explicit self-descriptions, in that the congruence between implicit and explicit self-descriptions only increased when controlled efforts were undermined, that is, in the high-cognitive-demand condition. But when participants were in a situation in which they possessed sufficient cognitive resources, their explicit and implicit self-descriptions did not match. When responding explicitly, participants presumably were aware of the self-presentation implications of responding in an overly positive manner and, as such, managed their responses accordingly. Their responses were far less positive when they were explicitly versus implicitly measured. In contrast, when participants lacked sufficient cognitive resources, they presumably were unable to consciously control the delivery of their explicit self-descriptions, which essentially then became automatic self-presentations. As result, their implicit and explicit self-descriptions were congruent in the high-cognitive-load condition; both showed positively biased self-descriptions, which is characteristic of automatic self-presentations.

Related studies also examined whether the automatic self-descriptions that underlie the self-positivity bias can be inhibited by consciously controlled efforts ( Koole et al., 2001 ). Here, participants were instructed to judge self-associated stimuli while focusing on either cognitive reasoning , which was thought to require more controlled efforts, or feeling , which was thought to require less controlled efforts. If greater preference for self-associated stimuli results from automatic self-presentation, a positive bias for such stimuli should increase when the focus is on feelings, an automatic response, compared to deliberate reasoning, a controlled response. In line with this reasoning, participants delivered more positively biased judgments for self-associated stimuli when they were focused on feelings rather than reasoning. This suggests that controlled efforts inhibit the emergence of automatic self-presentations. Participants also reported no awareness that they were displaying a positivity bias toward self-associated stimuli. In all, implicit self-positivity responses, based on overlearned self-descriptions, may be representative of automatic self-presentations.

The Availability of Self-Regulatory Resources during Self-Presentations

The first four sections focused on studies that essentially involved either low or high cognitive demands as a means to demonstrate, respectively, automatic or controlled self-presentations. We now turn to a set of studies that addressed the relationship between self-presentation and the consumption of self-regulatory resources ( Vohs, Baumeister, & Ciarocco, 2005 ). The logic underlying this relationship basically mimics the argument underscoring how the availability of cognitive resources impacts the degree to which self-presentations emerge via automatic or controlled efforts. When people engage in unfamiliar patterns of self-presentation, it requires increased self-regulatory efforts to override their habitual responses and to effortfully control their behavior. Carrying out “these effortful self-presentations drain[s]‌ more self-regulatory resources compared with presenting oneself in a standard, familiar, or habitual manner of self-presentation” ( Vohs et al., 2005 , p. 634). In four studies that examined this idea, participants were instructed to present themselves in a manner that was based either on familiar/habitual and less effortful patterns of self-presentations or on patterns that were unfamiliar/atypical, which called for more deliberate and thoughtful efforts.

The results across all four studies consistently demonstrated that engaging in habitual self-presentations demanded less regulatory efforts than carrying out an atypical or unfamiliar self-presentation, which required an increase in regulatory efforts, and subsequently depleted the self’s resources. As with cognitive demands, these findings suggest that automatic self-presentations emerge when the situation is perceived as more familiar and routine, and hence does not require exerting an increase in regulatory efforts. In contrast, more effortful and controlled self-presentations emerge when the situation calls for patterns of responding that are not typical or habitual, thus requiring more regulatory resources to be consumed. The results from these studies are consistent with the cognitive demand studies in the previous sections, again demonstrating that self-presentational efforts can assume different forms, and that conveying an image that is in conflict with one’s typical, habitual response patterns consumes greater regulatory resources than responses that follow one’s familiar self-presentational patterns. Automatic self-presentations require less regulatory resources than controlled self-presentations, which is theoretically consistent with the broad sentiment of the first four sections.

Cued Activation of Automatic Self-Presentation and Its Effect on Self-Description

For the most part, automatic self-presentations involve the conveyance of relatively favorable identity-images. Paulhus (1993) describes these efforts as “consisting of the individual’s most well-practiced, and hence, most chronically activated set of self-attributes,” which he posits are typically positive due to a lifetime of practice (p. 576). He argues that there are copious sources that underlie the widespread prevalence of the positivity that follows from a lifetime of practice. From childhood, people actively learn that they should provide more positively oriented self-descriptions and explanations for their social behavior. These ideas fit well with Schlenker’s (2003) description of background self-presentation agendas, which involve the construction of desired images of the self and are based on overlearned and habitual responses to social contingencies.

It is also important to note that although the majority of peoples’ automatic self-presentations are indeed characterized by positive self-representations, they are not necessarily restricted to just positive images. Certainly not all early life lessons and habits will reflect or result in only positive representations of the self. Some context cues can serve to trigger habit-molded patterns of behaviors that result in the conveyance of a less than favorable image of the self.

These automatic instances of less favorable images emerge from “people’s repertoire of relational schemas, or cognitive structures representing regularities in patterns of interpersonal relatedness involving a range of common interpersonal orientations: from expecting that another person will be consistently accepting, for example, to expecting that others will be evaluative or judgmental” ( Baldwin, 1992 , p. 209). Theorists propose that these relationships become internalized, in part, via the development of relation-oriented schemas. These schemas are thought to represent patterns of interpersonal behavior, consisting of interaction scripts including schemas for self and other as experienced within that interaction, which also include inference processes for communicating self-descriptions ( Baldwin, 1992 ). Researchers suggest, for example, that an individual can anticipate a negative evaluation because negative memories and knowledge structures have become activated, which influences how one anticipates and interprets a forthcoming or ongoing social interaction ( Baldwin & Main, 2001 ).

Theoretically any cue that has become linked with a particular interpersonal experience can trigger relational constructs and knowledge, and as such it can impact one’s current behavior ( Baldwin & Main, 2001 ). It is plausible that these cued activation procedures could impact automatic self-presentations, in that such efforts may involve more positive self-descriptions if the activated relational knowledge is associated with acceptance/favorability, and more negative self-descriptions if associated with rejection/unfavorability.

In a series of studies, researchers examined the idea that cued knowledge activation may differentially impact interpersonal behavior depending on the context of the activated relational schema. Although the direct intent of these studies was not focused on automatic self-presentations, the results, involving participants’ self-descriptions, can be construed as such ( Baldwin & Main, 2001 ). At the outset of these studies, participants underwent a conditioning procedure that surreptitiously paired expectations of acceptance and rejection with distinct aural tones ( Baldwin & Meunier, 1999 ). These conditioned tones were later used to nonconsciously activate the knowledge structures associated with acceptance and rejection. Specifically, during an interpersonal interaction one of the two tones from the conditioning procedure was repeatedly emitted from a computer terminal. The results indicated that participants communicated more positive self-descriptions in the acceptance compared to rejection condition and, conversely, more negative self-descriptions in the rejection versus acceptance condition. The conditioned tones to cue acceptance or rejection may have nonconsciously triggered automatic self-presentations, even to the degree that some of these efforts resulted in negative self-descriptions (see Swann, 1983 ).

In a similar fashion, other studies have examined the implicit motivational effects that significant others can have on automatic self-presentations (e.g., Shah, 2003 ). This research suggests that people’s self-representations incorporate the goals, values, and expectations that close others hold for them, and that the cued activation of these internal representations automatically influences people’s behavior via the other’s association to a variety of interpersonal goals ( Moretti & Higgins, 1999 ). The implicit effect of close others may extend to goal-directed behavior in which others influence people’s interpersonal behavior during ongoing social interactions. In other words, the implicit influence of significant others may serve to trigger automatic self-presentations.

To examine this idea, researchers covertly acquired the names of significant others, either an accepting or a critical other’s name ( Baldwin, 1994 ; Shah, 2003 ). These names were used at a later point to prime subliminally participants’ interpersonal goals. Following the priming manipulation, participants completed an ego-threatening task, after which they completed self-descriptive questionnaires. The results indicated that participant’s self-descriptions were influenced by the critical and accepting others’ name, even though detailed manipulation checks showed that participants were not consciously aware of name exposure. When a critical other’s name was primed, self-descriptions were more negative; when an accepting other’s name was primed, self-descriptions were more positive. These findings suggest that self-descriptions were nonconsciously influenced by the cued activation of relational schemas that were associated with the accepting or critical other. Subliminally reminding people, for example, of a negative, demanding or positive, friendly other may automatically trigger a be friendly or be aggressive goal, as well as the corresponding self-presentation behavior associated with the activated relational schema.

Consistent with the idea of cued activation, Tyler (2012) utilized priming procedures across a set of three studies to assess directly the automatic nature of self-presentational efforts. In the first two studies, participants were primed with words associated with impression-oriented people or with a set of neutral words; the second study also included a condition in which participants received explicit self-presentation instructions to present themselves favorably. In the first study, the self-presentation measure involved participants answering a series of self-descriptive questions put forth by the experimenter. With the second study, each participant engaged in an unscripted conversation with a confederate, which was videotaped and later coded for how favorable the participants described themselves. The results across both studies revealed that participants in the impression condition self-presented a more favorable image compared to participants in the neutral condition. The results from the second study also showed that participants’ self-presentations in the explicit condition mimicked the favorability of participants’ self-presentations in the impression prime condition. Put differently, participants’ automatic self-presentations were very similar to their efforts when they were explicitly instructed to self-present a favorable persona. The third study was grounded on the idea that the participating audience one is interacting with might serve as a nonconscious self-presentation cue. Here, participants were primed with words associated with friends or strangers. Following the priming procedure, participants were instructed to write a self-description, which was later coded with regard to how favorable participants described themselves. Analysis in the friend prime condition showed that participants self-presented a more modest image, whereas in the stranger prime condition participants self-presented a more self-enhancing image. Taken together, the findings across these studies provide compelling support for the proposition that people’s self-presentations can be primed by environmental cues outside of their conscious awareness.

Critical Assessment and Discussion

The driving logic underlying the proposal of an automatic self-presentational process is the same across all review sections, allowing for a straightforward interpretation of the findings. Recall that the goal of the current chapter is focused on determining if automatic self-presentations emerge of their own accord, triggered outside of conscious awareness by context cues in the absence of direct self-presentational instructions.

Automatic Self-Presentations and Context Cues

According to a number of influential models (e.g., Leary & Kowalski, 1990 ; Paulhus, 1993 ; Schlenker, 1985 , 2003 ), automatic self-presentations are predicated on habitual and routine response patterns that include scripts, overlearned responses, and well-practiced sets of self-attributes. For instance, Paulhus (1993) suggests “the default self-presentation, the automatic self, has it origins in a lifetime of self-presentation practice” (p. 580). Even more directly, Schlenker ( 1985 , 2003 ) posits:

Automatic self-presentations reflect modulated units of action that eventually “settle in” to become habits. These habitual patterns of behavior form self-presentation scripts that are triggered automatically by context cues and guide action unthinkingly, in relevant situations. Such scripts provide a rich store of knowledge and experience (i.e., relational knowledge), which can be automatically accessed to quickly and effectively communicate desired identity-images. When a script is triggered consciously or unconsciously by context cues, it provides a definition of the situation being encountered, a set of expectations about events, and a set of operations for thoughts and behaviors in the situation. (pp. 76, 495)

A common thread among these models underscores the notion that habitual self-presentation patterns are triggered by context cues and people are not consciously aware that their efforts are influenced by such cues. Although the exact nature of context cues varies from occasion to occasion, in general, “the situation or audience itself cues associated information about the self, social roles, and social expectations in memory and makes salient the context-contingencies between particular self-presentations and relevant outcomes” ( Schlenker, 1986 , p. 35). This description accentuates the context-contingent nature of the cues that can trigger automatic self-presentations and, as noted earlier, has a straightforward connection with Wood and Neal’s (2007) habit model, in that habits are characterized as learned dispositions to repeat past responses and are activated by context cues. In summary, theorists’ characterization of automatic self-presentations as habit responses, automatically triggered by context cues, unfolds in much the same fashion as Wood and Neal describe habit performances.

Describing automatic self-presentations as triggered by context cues is also consistent with the characterization of automatic processes as involuntary, such that people’s behavior is activated by prompts in the social environment ( Bargh, 1996 ). Schlenker and Pontari (2000) also argue that background self-presentations are guided by an intended, goal-dependent automatic process, characterized as “an autonomous process requiring the intention that it occur, and thus awareness that it is occurring, but no conscious guidance once put into operation” ( Bargh, 1996 , p. 174). Self-presentational efforts that emerge via an intended, goal-dependent automatic process comprise a well-learned, sequential set of actions that were previously associated with goal accomplishment. People are not consciously aware that context cues influence their social behavior; however, the goal-directed activity of structuring and maintaining a desired identity is nonetheless occurring. In summary, theorists contend that automatic self-presentations are activated nonconsciously by cues in the social situation and are founded on overlearned responses to behavioral-outcome contingencies.

Consistent with self-presentation theories and with support from more general models of habit responding, we argue that cues in the social environment, in and of themselves, are a necessary imperative and represent the fundamental cornerstone with which to establish the validity of an automatic self-presentation process. Although such a process has strong logical and theoretical footing, without corroborating evidence for context cuing, the process would nonetheless remain nothing but a conceptual proposition. If we fail to demonstrate empirically a context-contingent pathway for the nonconscious activation of automatic self-presentations, there is no other logical or clear mechanism with which to build and support an evidentiary foundation for such a process. As a result, we would necessarily be required to accept the notion outlined at the outset of this chapter: that the vast majority of self-presentations involve controlled and deliberate efforts, and as such only emerge during very specific sets of narrowly defined occasions. Without clear and sustaining evidence demonstrating that cues in the social environment trigger automatic self-presentations, identifying a mechanistic pathway for an automatic self-presentational process would be untenable. This leads directly to the key question underpinning our goal for this chapter: Do automatic self-presentations emerge of their own accord, triggered outside of conscious awareness by context cues in the absence of explicit self-presentation instructions? This issue relates to specific features of automatic processes in which self-presentations are thought to be involuntary responses initiated outside of conscious awareness by prompts in the social environment.

To shed light on this question, we look to the studies outlined in the research section. Although the evidence in support is quite limited, the findings suggest that automatic self-presentations are likely to emerge during situations involving familiar and routine patterns of responding, which require minimal cognitive and regulatory resources. Presenting oneself in accord with habitual response patterns required less effort, was delivered with greater speed, and was more likely to involve a favorable presentation of self. For instance, the studies that focused on recall measures demonstrate that automatic self-presentational efforts represent habitual patterns of responding that can be triggered automatically by features of the audience and situation ( Schlenker, 2003 ). To go against habitual patterns requires foregoing the benefits of automaticity, with the resulting use of controlled self-presentations then operating like cognitive load. Faced with the need to make conscious self-presentation decisions, people are then left with diminished cognitive resources, for example, to encode and recall information. The studies addressing the effect of cognitive resources on self-presentational effectiveness also illustrate that habitual self-presentations transpire with minimal resource demands, and they can unfold effectively even if an individual is faced with other cognitively demanding activities. Engaging in controlled self-presentations, however, requires increased cognitive resources and, as such, suffers if an individual is simultaneously engaged in other efforts that diminish his or her resources. These findings are consistent with Schlenker and Pontari’s (2000) notion of foreground self-presentations, which require available cognitive resources, and background self-presentations, which require minimal resources, primarily because background efforts are founded on repeatedly used scripts and over time have emerged as habitual aspects of a person’s personality and identity. In all, participants prompted to self-present in a typical or familiar manner displayed cognitive effects consistent with an automatic process.

It is important, however, to emphasize that the design of most of the studies involved the efficiency feature of automatic processes, which focused on the influence that available cognitive resources have on self-presentations. Such evidence only demonstrates that automatic self-presentational behavior may occur in the absence of controlled efforts; that is, once consciously activated, self-presentations may unfold in an autonomous manner. For the most part, participants were aware of the goal conditions, in that they received explicit instructions to engage in a specific type of self-presentation, typically one that was either congruent or incongruent with what would be expected in that particular situation, and with the implication that under certain conditions these different self-presentations would consume more or less cognitive resources. These research designs did not just rely on the presence of context cues to nonconsciously trigger automatic self-presentations, and because participants were explicitly given instructions to self-present in a particular manner, it is impossible to tease apart any effects being due to self-presentation instructions or to context cues. We argue that the majority of research cannot unequivocally confirm an automatic process; the data do not allow for definitive conclusions in that we cannot determine whether self-presentations were triggered outside of conscious awareness by context cues in the absence of explicit self-presentation instructions.

However, the few studies outlined in the cued activation section may offer plausible evidence supporting the proposition that self-presentation involves an automatic cognitive mechanism in which people’s efforts are nonconsciously triggered by context cues. Together, these studies demonstrate that cued knowledge activation, the implicit influence of significant others, and the subliminal priming of self-presentation cues can influence people’s self-presentational efforts. For instance, as a context cue, the conditioned aural tones triggered self-presentations outside of conscious awareness, in that positive or negative self-descriptions emerged, respectively, when participants were surreptitiously cued with a tone that had been previously paired with either acceptance or rejection ( Baldwin & Meunier, 1999 ). Results from Shah (2003) also showed that participants’ self-descriptions were more negative when primed with a critical other’s name and more positive when primed with an accepting others’ name. He proffered that this effect occurred because the self-descriptions were nonconsciously influenced by the cued activation of relational schemas, which had become cognitively and emotionally linked over time to an accepting or critical other. In the same vein, Tyler’s (2012) data revealed that participants primed with an impression word self-presented a more favorable persona, which not incidentally mimicked self-presentations in an explicit self-presentation control condition. Tyler’s findings, which are consistent with Tice et al. (1995) , also showed that participants primed with friend-oriented words self-presented a more modest image, whereas those primed with stranger-oriented words conveyed a more self-enhancing image.

The findings outlined in the cued activation section are theoretically consistent with the concept of a background self-presentation agenda in which an individual’s behavior is automatically guided based on repeatedly used scripts that have been successful in the past. The behaviors that ensue comprise patterns of action that are habit-formed and emerge without conscious awareness. In a background mode, impression-relevant cues prompt or activate self-presentations, although people are not consciously aware that their efforts are, in part, fashioned by the social environment and their activated self-presentation scripts ( Schlenker & Pontari, 2000 ). These automatic self-presentations typically represent positive characterizations of the self, but as the studies in the final review section illustrate, they can also involve more negatively oriented self-descriptions.

Although we tender our comments with a healthy degree of caution, we are optimistic that the results utilizing very subtle or subliminally primed context cues offer the strongest, albeit limited evidence in support of the proposition that self-presentations can be activated by environmental cues outside of conscious awareness. What these few studies seriously lack, however, is an examination of the effect during an actual ongoing social interaction.

Future work is sorely needed to not only conceptually replicate the cued context and priming effects but also to move the examination of these effects into more real-life types of situations ( Leary et al., 2011 ). To do so will require the use of creative designs to offset the fact that in real-life settings the context cues may often exist within the boundaries of people’s conscious awareness. People are cognizant of an audience, for instance, and as such, their self-presentations may be guided by an intended, but goal-dependent, automatic process, which is consistent with background self-presentations as proposed in the self-identification theory.

We also emphasize that any research designs utilizing context cues or primes to trigger automatic self-presentations need to take particular care to ensure that the cues/primes are not transparent, and that their influence occurs, indeed via a nonconscious mechanism. Clarifying the mechanism underlying automatic self-presentation is of key import, in part, because research designs may unintentionally neglect cues in the experimental setting that nonconsciously trigger or motivate self-presentational behavior, which of course, would inadvertently affect the subsequent results. This concern has historical precedent; during the 1970s, a significant amount of self-presentation research was aimed at providing alternatives to the currently held explanations for a variety of interpersonal phenomena. Results from numerous studies, spanning wide domains within social psychology, provided evidence demonstrating that people’s interpersonal behavior (e.g., helping behavior, conformity, cognitive dissonance, voting behavior) was influenced by their desire that others view them in a particular fashion (e.g., Tedeschi, Schlenker, & Bonoma, 1971 ; see Leary, 1995 ). For the most part, the self-presentation perspective argued, “that the people we use as the sources of behavioral data are active, anticipatory, problem-solving, role-playing, and impression-managing beings ( Page, 1981 , p. 59; see Adair, 1973 ). Page further argued that experimental subjects “may feel very much as if they are on stage ( Goffman, 1959 , ), and they may control and calculate their own behavior so as not to receive what in their own eyes would be a negative evaluation of their performance” (p. 60). At the time, these contentions were directly aimed at participants’ consciously, controlled self-presentational efforts and were viewed by traditional social psychology as methodological artifacts that could be ameliorated (see Kruglanski, 1975 ). The degree to which these issues have actually been remedied is well beyond the scope of the current chapter. If theorists’ proposition is correct, however, and automatic self-presentations are a ubiquitous feature of people’s daily life, it would behoove researchers to assiduously examine their experimental design and protocols to determine if potential cues in the laboratory setting are unintentionally triggering participants’ automatic self-presentational efforts. If this were the case, the concerns are obvious and meaningful, in that such cued behavior would severely confound any subsequent results and data interpretation.

An essential ingredient of the research that directly examines automatic self-presentations is the development of tightly designed control or comparison conditions; at the least, such conditions must demonstrate that the absence of a particular cue leads to less self-presentational efforts compared to the presence of the cue. Such research designs must also keep potential self-presentational motivations, for example, goal importance and audience status, constant across all experimental conditions, while manipulating the context-cued condition. If the design fails to adequately do so, it is nearly impossible to determine if participants’ self-presentation efforts are unfolding in a background mode or whether other motivational factors have shifted participants’ efforts to the foreground. It is important to evaluate implicit self-presentation cues, not only for their effectiveness at triggering automatic self-presentations, but also to ensure that they are able to do so in a nonconscious manner.

Integrating elements from a number of the reviewed studies may also prove useful in examining automatic self-presentations, particularly during the course of an ongoing interpersonal interaction. In a number of studies, various self-presentations were characterized as comprising or inducing different levels of cognitive demand, which combined with information processing measures, enabled researchers to infer automatic self-presentations. Much of the evidence indicated that when cognitive attention was diverted only a default set of positive self-descriptions remained available for automatic self-presentations. By turning the notion around that different self-presentations induce high or low cognitive load, one could predict that high- or low-cognitive-load circumstances would lead to automatic or controlled self-presentations, respectively. It would be fruitful to manipulate the level of cognitive demand during an ongoing interpersonal interaction in the absence of any explicit self-presentation instructions, with the expectation that automatic self-presentations (i.e., default set of positive self-descriptions) should emerge in the high- compared to low-cognitive-load condition. Rather than assess self-ratings or recall, it would also be more externally valid and informative to measure and/or code people’s self-descriptions or behaviors.

Although Pontari and Schlenker’s extravert-introvert study (2000) involved explicit self-presentation instructions, it followed a design similar to the one proposed herein; they directly manipulated cognitive demands during an interaction. Automatic self-presentations were presumed to have occurred under conditions in which participants were instructed to engage in congruent self-presentations in both the high- and low-cognitive-load conditions. One can readily imagine adding another condition in which participants under both cognitive load conditions received no explicit self-presentation instructions. The results from such a condition should mirror the data from the presumed automatic self-presentation condition because participants in either cognitive load condition who received no self-presentation instructions would have no particular reason or motivation to behave in a manner other than the one they are most familiar with—extraverts would act extraverted and introverts would act introverted. If this no-instruction condition replicated the automatic self-presentation condition, it would provide additional support for an automatic component to the self-presentation process. It would also provide much needed evidence to demonstrate that automatic self-presentations emerge spontaneously during interpersonal interactions, in the absence of any direct instructional prompts.

At the start of this chapter, we argued that characterizing self-presentation in terms that predominantly evoke controlled and strategic efforts is not only theoretically challenging but also empirically problematic. It serves to foster an exclusionary research perspective, severely limiting research attention, leading to a paucity of work examining automatic self-presentations. Following a conceptual approach that positions self-presentation as occurring primarily in limited situations has fundamentally shaped the fabric of most self-presentation research designs, in that participants are often explicitly provided with self-presentation instructions, essentially bypassing the issue of context cuing.

Although the scarcity of empirical work became apparent in the evidence sections, the studies that are available offer some promising avenues for future work. Pontari and Schlenker’s (2000) extravert-introvert studies suggest an empirical direction and offer results to build and expand upon. The cued activation and priming studies not only provide the strongest evidence to date for automatic self-presentations, but they also provide a solid empirical foundation with which to design additional work. Nonetheless, the evidence remains very limited, underscoring a palpable and substantive need for further research. Considerable work remains to be done in order to determine empirically whether self-presentations are actually triggered nonconsciously by cues in the social environment, in that people are unaware of the initiation, flow, or impact of their self-presentational efforts.

Aarts, H. , & Dijksterhuis, A. ( 2000 ). Habits as knowledge structures: Automaticity in goal directed behavior.   Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 78 , 53–63.

Google Scholar

Adair, J. G. ( 1973 ). The human subject: The social psychology of the psychological experiment. Boston: Little Brown.

Google Preview

Back, M. D. , Stopfer, J. M. , Vazire, S. , Gaddis, S. , Schmukle, S. C. , Egloff, B. , & Gosling, S. D. ( 2010 ). Facebook profiles reflect actual personality not self-idealization.   Psychological Science , 21 , 372–374.

Baldwin, M. ( 1992 ). Relational schemas and the processing of social information.   Psychological Bulletin , 112 , 461–484.

Baldwin, M. ( 1994 ). Primed relational schemas as a source of self-evaluative reactions.   Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology , 13 , 380–403.

Baldwin, M. W. , & Main, K. J. ( 2001 ). Social anxiety and the cued activation of relational knowledge.   Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 27 , 1637–1647.

Baldwin, M. , & Meunier, J. ( 1999 ). The cued activation of attachment relational schemas.   Social Cognition , 17 , 209–227.

Bargh, J. A. ( 1996 ). Automaticity in social psychology. In E. T. Higgins & A. W. Kruglanski (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (pp. 169–183). New York: Guilford Press.

Baumeister, R. F. ( 1982 ). Self-esteem, self-presentation, and future interaction: A dilemma of reputation.   Journal of Personality , 50 , 29–45.

Baumeister, R. F. , Hutton, D. G. , & Tice, D. M. ( 1989 ). Cognitive processes during deliberate self-presentation: How self-presenters alter and misinterpret the behavior of their interaction partners.   Journal of Experimental Social Psychology , 25 , 59–78.

Baumeister, R. F. , & Jones, E. E. ( 1978 ). When self-presentation is constrained by the target’s knowledge: Consistency and compensation.   Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 36 , 608–618.

Custers, R. , & Aarts, H. ( 2005 ). Positive affect as implicit motivator: On nonconscious operation of behavioral goals.   Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 89 , 129–142.

DePaulo, B. M. ( 1992 ). Nonverbal behavior and self-presentation.   Psychological Bulletin , 111 , 203–243.

Goffman, E. ( 1959 ). The presentation of self in everyday life . New York: Doubleday Books.

Hogan R. ( 1983 ). A socioanalytic theory of personality. In Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (Vol. 30 , pp. 55–89). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Holden, R. R. , Kroner, D. G. , Fekken, G. C , & Popham, S. M. ( 1992 ). A model of personality test item response dissimulation.   Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 63 , 272–279.

Holden, R. R. , Wood, L. L , & Tomashewski L. ( 2001 ). Do response time limitations counteract the effect of faking on personality inventory validity?   Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 81 , 160–169.

Jones, E. E. , & Wortman, C. ( 1973 ). Ingratiation: An attributional approach . Morristown, NJ: General Learning Press.

Kitayama, S. , & Karasawa, M. ( 1997 ). Implicit self-esteem in Japan: Name letters and birthday numbers.   Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 23 , 736–742.

Koole, S. L. , Dijksterhuis, A. , & van Knippenberg, A. ( 2001 ). What’s in a name: Implicit self-esteem and the automatic self.   Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 80 , 669–685.

Kruglanski , ( 1975 ). The human subject in the psychological experiment: Fact and artifact. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 8 , pp. 101–147). New York: Academic Press.

Leary, M. R. ( 1995 ). Self-presentation: Impression management and interpersonal behavior . Boulder, CO: Westview.

Leary, M. R. , & Allen, A. ( 2011 ). Self-presentational persona: Simultaneous management of multiple impressions.   Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 101 , 1033–1049.

Leary, M. R. , Allen, A. , & Terry, M. L. ( 2011 ). Managing social images in naturalistic versus laboratory settings: Implications for understanding and studying self-presentation. European Journal of Social Psychology , 41 , 411–421.

Leary, M. R. , & Kowalski, R. M. ( 1990 ). Impression management: A literature review and two-component model.   Psychological Bulletin , 107 , 34–47.

Mikulincer, M. ( 1995 ). Attachment style and the mental representation of the self.   Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 69 , 1203–1215.

Moretti, M. M. , & Higgins, E. T. ( 1999 ). Own versus other standpoints in self-regulation: Developmental antecedents and functional consequences.   Review of General Psychology , 3 , 188–223.

Paulhus, D. L. ( 1993 ). Bypassing the will: The automatization of affirmations. In D. M. Wegner & J. W. Pennebaker (Eds.), Handbook of mental control (pp. 573–587). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Paulhus, D. L. , Bruce, N. , & Stoffer, E. (1990, August). Automatizing self-descriptions . Paper presented at the American Psychological Association meeting, Boston, MA.

Paulhus, D. L. , Graf, P. , & Van Selst, M. ( 1989 ). Attentional load increases the positivity of self-presentation.   Social Cognition , 7 , 389–400.

Paulhus, D. L. , & Levitt, K. ( 1987 ). Desirable responding triggered by affect: Automatic egotism?   Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 52 , 245–259.

Page, M. P. ( 1981 ). Demand compliance in laboratory experiments. In J. T. Tedeschi (Ed.), Impression management theory and social psychological research (pp. 57–82). New York: Academic Press.

Pontari, B. A. , & Schlenker, B. R. ( 2000 ). The influence of cognitive load on self-presentation: Can cognitive busyness help as well as harm social performance?   Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 78 , 1092–1108.

Schlenker, B. R. ( 1980 ). Impression management. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Schlenker, B. R. ( 1985 ). Identity and self-identification. In B. R. Schlenker (Ed.), The self and social life (pp. 65–99). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Schlenker, B. R. ( 1986 ). Self-identification: Toward an integration of the private and public self. In R. Baumeister (Ed.), Public self and private self (pp. 21–62). New York: Springer-Verlag.

Schlenker, B. R. ( 2003 ). Self-presentation. In M. R. Leary & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (pp. 492–518). New York: Guilford Press.

Schlenker, B. R. , Britt, T. W. , & Pennington, J. W. ( 1996 ). Impression regulation and management: A theory of self-identification. In R. M. Sorrentino & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition: The interpersonal context (pp. 118–147). New York: Guilford Press.

Schlenker, B. R. , Britt, T. W. , Pennington, J. W. , Murphy, R. , & Doherty, K. J. ( 1994 ). The triangle model of responsibility.   Psychological Review , 101 , 632–652.

Schlenker, B. R. , & Pontari, B. A. ( 2000 ). The strategic control of information: Impression management and self-presentation in daily life. In A. Tesser & R. B. Felson (Eds.), Psychological perspectives on self and identity (pp. 199–232). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Shah, J. ( 2003 ). Automatic for the people: How representations of significant others implicitly affect goal pursuit.   Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 84 , 661–681.

Swann, W. B., Jr . ( 1983 ). Self-verification: Bringing social reality into harmony with the self. In J. Suls & A. G. Greenwald (Eds.), Psychological perspectives on the self (pp. 33–66). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Tedeschi, J. T. , Schlenker, B. R. , & Bonoma, T. V. ( 1971 ). Cognitive dissonance: Private ratiocination or public spectacle?   American Psychologist , 26 , 685–695.

Tice, D. M. , Butler, J. L. , Muraven, M. B. , & Stillwell, A. M. ( 1995 ). When modesty prevails: Differential favorability of self-presentation to friends and strangers.   Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 69 , 1120–1138.

Tyler, J. M. ( 2012 ). Triggering self-presentation efforts outside of people’s conscious awareness.   Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 38 , 619–627.

Verplanken, B. , & Aarts, H. ( 1999 ). Habit, attitude, and planned behaviour: Is habit an empty construct or an interesting case of goal-directed automaticity? European Review of Social Psychology , 10 , 101–134.

Vohs, K. D. , Baumeister, R. F. , & Ciarocco, N. J. ( 2005 ). Self-regulation and self-presentation: Regulatory resource depletion impairs impression management and effortful self-presentation depletes regulatory resources.   Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 88 , 632–657.

Wilson, R. E. , Gosling, S. D. , & Graham, L. T. ( 2012 ). A review of Facebook research in the social sciences.   Perspectives on Psychological Science , 7 , 203–220.

Wood, W. , & Neal, D. T. ( 2007 ). A new look at habits and the habit–goal interface.   Psychological Review, 114, 843–863.

• About Oxford Academic
• Publish journals with us
• University press partners
• What we publish
• New features  
• Open access
• Institutional account management
• Rights and permissions
• Get help with access
• Accessibility
• Advertising
• Media enquiries
• Oxford University Press
• Oxford Languages
• University of Oxford

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide

• Copyright © 2024 Oxford University Press
• Cookie settings
• Cookie policy
• Privacy policy
• Legal notice

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

THE SELF-STUDY

Sep 03, 2014

530 likes | 1.26k Views

THE SELF-STUDY. “OUR EXPERIENCE”. MAJAN COLLEGE (UNIVERSITY COLLEGE ). Normal self-review vs. the self-study. Normally our main focus is: monitoring all academic aspects quality of provision and academic standards identifying and acting on areas for improvement The self-study :

Share Presentation

• working groups
• academic management
• smaller committees
• managed working groups
• normal existing qa systems

Presentation Transcript

THE SELF-STUDY “OUR EXPERIENCE” MAJAN COLLEGE (UNIVERSITY COLLEGE)

Normal self-review vs. the self-study Normally our main focus is: • monitoring all academic aspects • quality of provision and academic standards • identifying and acting on areas for improvement The self-study : • more comprehensive and intensive (all departments and all activities) • focus on existing policies and systems • more emphasis on data and analysis • strengths, weaknesses, gaps and areas for improvement

Broad areas of focus • Institutional governance and management; • Learning and teaching environment; • Student Support; • Support Services • Staffing and Resources • Timing of the self-study: 6 months before the submission of portfolio to the OAC

Steering Committee Included the: • Academic Management Team • Quality Assurance Committee • 22 members • all levels of academic management.

What did the Steering Committee do? • Own the process. • Lead the way and walk the talk. • Don’t fool yourself. • Ensure maximum involvement. • Transparency and openness cannot be over emphasised. Forget the OAC. • Empower staff and ensure that they are critical and reflective . Forget the OAC. • Send out the right message (its not just for the OAC, its for us)

How did the Steering Committee do this? • Planned, organised and coordinated the self-study (as a committee); • Identified and managed working groups for each specific section/subsection in the QAM (as a committee) ; • Conducted orientation meetings (focus ADRI) with members of the working groups and other committees (as smaller committees);

How did the Steering Committee do this? • Organised student and employer surveys and student and staff focus groups (smaller committees & individuals); • Managed all the data (smaller committees & individuals); • Allocated responsibility for the writing up of various sections in the portfolio (committee); • Reviewing working drafts of the portfolio (committee);

Working Groups • Structure the working groups around the sections in the portfolio/manual. • Essential to ensure wider participation and ownership. Almost all staff was involved . • The self-study was structured around our mission, values, stated policies and objectives and processes in each area and results;

Consistency is critical: All working groups/ committees used the following approach. • Approach: What is supposed to be achieved in terms of stated objectives and policies? • Deployment: What is actually being done? • Results: What are the results with supporting evidence? • Improvement: How can we improve?

What would we change? • Nothing in terms of process. • Data analysis for support services could be improved. • For the OAC: Issues around the Audit panel’s/ reviewers understanding of: • The role of the prescribed self-study in the audit process and how it informs the Quality Audit Manual. • the institution's normal/ existing QA systems and how they have been influenced by the self-study.

THE END THANK YOU

• More by User

ONLINE self-study

ONLINE self-study Powered Industrial Trucks OSHA Standard This training course will cover the OSHA 1910.178 Powered Industrial Truck standard Employer Responsibilities

746 views • 42 slides

ONLINE self-study. Boomlift Non-Practical. Type: Scissor/Vertical.

843 views • 38 slides

ONLINE self-study. Occupational Noise Exposure OSHA 29 CFR 1910.95. Occupational Noise Exposure. This presentation will cover the following topics:. The effects of noise on hearing; Hearing protection – purpose, types and use; The purpose of audiometric testing and how it works; and

1.03k views • 63 slides

WASC and the Self Study

WASC and the Self Study. Our Polytechnic Identity in the 21st Century Fall Conference 2008. What is WASC?. WASC is the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, one of six regional organizations that the federal government has authorized to accredit institutions of higher learning.

971 views • 46 slides

ONLINE self-study. Powered Industrial Trucks. OSHA Standard. This training course will cover the OSHA 1910.178 Powered Industrial Truck standard. Employer Responsibilities.

615 views • 42 slides

ONLINE self-study. Permit Required Confined Spaces OSHA 29 CFR 1910.146. Objectives. In this course, we will cover the following: Definition of a confined space Identify the difference between a confined space and permit required confined space

947 views • 70 slides

ONLINE self-study. Chemical Fume Hoods. References: Prudent Practices in the Laboratory – 2011 (National Research Council of The National Academies):

383 views • 24 slides

ONLINE self-study. The Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout Tagout) OSHA 29 CFR 1910.147. Objectives. This presentation will cover the following topics:. The need for energy control procedures; Methods of lockout/tagout; Employer’s responsibilities; Employee training needs; and

766 views • 56 slides

ONLINE self-study. Autoclave. Introduction.

794 views • 40 slides

CEOS Self-Study

CEOS Self-Study. Patricia JacobbergerJellison NASA [email protected]. CEOS Self-Study. Objectives: To identify and evaluate CEOS successes and strengths in achieving real coordination in space-based Earth observations for societal benefit.

427 views • 27 slides

Self study. Short overview for RTOS QNX Neutrino, VxWorks , WinCE, mITRON4.0, Micro/OS-II Architecture Supported platforms Scheduling Kernel features Supported standards Development tools Select some RTOS or OS-less variant for task: Cell-phone billing system

340 views • 2 slides

Self-Study Report

Self-Study Report. Civil and Environmental Engineering Brigham Young University. Brigham Young University. 33,000 students Largest private university Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints All 50 states, 100 countries Incoming freshmen Ave ACT = 27.6/36.0 Ave GPA = 3.76/4.0.

771 views • 49 slides

Glossary Self-study

Glossary Self-study. This sample biography unit, appropriate for various ages, can be used with your glossary handout to better understand what each part of the UbD framework entails. Illustrative Example: Unit on Biography. Unit Course : Possible for multiple Ages and Contents

275 views • 12 slides

The BYU Idaho Self-Study

The BYU Idaho Self-Study. Overall Characteristics 200 page maximum Abundant use of graphical displays Thoroughly proofread A comprehensive index Uniform voice Liberal references to external documents. The BYU Idaho Self-Study. Document Layout Style guide 2 columns Serif font

324 views • 18 slides

ONLINE self-study. Laser Safety Training. Introduction. The term &quot;LASER&quot; is an acronym for: L ight A mplification by S timulated E mission of R adiation

361 views • 26 slides

THE HLC SELF-STUDY PROCESS

THE HLC SELF-STUDY PROCESS. THE INFORMAL INTERVIEW: QUESTIONS FOR THE HALLWAY. DID YOU KNOW AN HLC SELF-STUDY TEAM WAS COMING?. November 7 – 9, 2011. ARE YOU AWARE OF HOW THE INSTITUTIONAL ACCREDITATION PROCESS WORKS?.

141 views • 6 slides

Guidance Self-Study

Guidance Self-Study. Tommi Leach Kelly Arrington ODCTE. The question is why…. How can guidance accreditation be more useful to the technology center student services staff?

231 views • 12 slides

ONLINE SELF STUDY

ONLINE SELF STUDY. Botanical Garden Safety Training. Class Objectives. About EHS Fire Safety Workers’ Compensation Hazard Communications Personal Protective Equipment Heat Stress Insect/Bug Safety. About EHS. Workplace Safety Program:

1.29k views • 91 slides

ONLINE self-study. Radiation Safety for Ancillary Employees. In this course, you will learn about:. Radioactivity and Radiation Radiation Units and Terms Background Radiation Radioactive Materials Signs and Labels Radiation Risk Assessment Radiation Protection at UNC

408 views • 23 slides

ONLINE self-study. Shipping of Infectious Substances and Other Biomedical Materials Annual Update. Course Objectives. The purpose of this program is to: ensure the safe handling of hazardous materials using good sensible practices.

1.18k views • 90 slides

Self Study Workshop

Self Study Workshop. Plenary III Assessing, Evaluating, and Documenting Achievements and Effectiveness Standard Three—Students. Sonya Christian. February 1, 2007. Disability Services. Financial Aid. Athletics. Tutoring Services. Standard Three. Bookstore. Food Services. Counseling.

227 views • 11 slides

Self Study Module

Self Study Module. Travel Agent Skills. 2. Welcome Welcome to the travel industry and welcome to The Global Travel Group!

559 views • 48 slides

Immunization Courses: Webcasts and Self Study

CDC offers continuing education (CE) for several self-study programs on immunization. These can be accessed in a variety of ways: web-based, video, and webinar.

Most CE from these programs is free and easy to access through the training and CE online system . If needed, assistance with obtaining CE is available.

Click the course name in the table below to see its description, intended audience, format , CE details, and any needed materials and resources. Other details include registration, objectives, and presenters/faculty, etc.

Terms used on this page are defined at bottom of page.

CDC-INFO’s correspondence process has changed. The email box is not actively monitored; please submit questions via the CDC-INFO online form .

Some courses offer continuing education (CE).

CDC’s Training and Continuing Education Online system ( TCEO ) has been the primary system that provides access to CDC educational activities for CE. To improve the learning experience, CDC’s continuing education (CE) process is moving from TCEO to CDC TRAIN .

Beginning January 1, 2024, many activities that offer CE from CDC will be listed in CDC TRAIN . Older modules will continue to use the TCEO system throughout 2024 to provide CE.

If you would like to claim CE or print a certificate, specific instructions are provided within each course to guide you to the appropriate system.

For additional immunization training, see

• 1-hour CDC webinars on current immunization issues
• Other organization’s courses for CMEs, CNEs, CEUs, and CE

  Top of Page

Target Audience: Physicians, PAs, Advanced Practice Nurses, RNs, Pharmacists, Health Educators

Description: CDC has created a new, web-on-demand, self-paced module for healthcare providers who will be administering COVID-19 vaccines. This module will provide healthcare providers with information about COVID-19 vaccine Emergency Use Authorization and safety, approved COVID-19 vaccines, and guidelines around vaccine storage, handling, administration, and reporting.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to:

• Describe storage and handling requirements for COVID-19 vaccines.
• Describe vaccine preparation procedures for COVID-19 vaccines.
• Describe vaccine administration procedures for COVID-19 vaccines.
• Locate current immunization resources to increase knowledge of team’s role in program implementation for improved team performance.

CME: Valid through August 17, 2025

CE Details: https://www2.cdc.gov/vaccines/ed/covid19/covax/

• Describe best practices for effective COVID-19 vaccine administration.
• Address recent COVID-19 recommendations made by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and CDC.
• Implement disease detection and prevention health care services (e.g., smoking cessation, weight reduction, diabetes screening, blood pressure screening, immunization services) to prevent health problems and maintain health.

Continuing Education is no longer available for this series.

CE Details: www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/training-education/webinars.html

Target Audience: Immunization Providers (Physicians, Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, Pharmacists, Physician’s Assistants, DoD Paraprofessionals, Medical Students, etc.)

Description: The General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization publication is intended for clinicians and other health care providers who vaccinate patients in varied settings, including hospitals, provider offices, pharmacies, schools, community health centers, and public health clinics. It is organized into the following 10 sections: 1) Timing and Spacing of Immunobiologics; 2) Contraindications and Precautions; 3) Preventing and Managing Adverse Reactions; 4) Vaccine Administration; 5) Storage and Handling of Immunobiologics; 6) Altered Immunocompetence; 7) Special Situations; 8) Vaccination Records; 9) Vaccination Programs; and 10) Vaccine Information Sources.

• Identify valid contraindications for commonly used vaccines.
• Describe the minimum intervals between doses for vaccines routinely used in the United States.
• Describe methods for preventing and managing adverse reactions.
• Describe recommended practices for administration of vaccines.
• Describe proper storage and handling procedures for immunobiologics.
• Identify evidence-based interventions shown to improve vaccination rates among children.

CME: Valid through April 21, 2025.

CE Details: General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization course #WB4458R

Description: Communication between providers and parents is key to improving HPV vaccination. HPV Vaccine: Same Way, Same Day ™ is a brief, interactive role-play simulation designed to enhance healthcare providers’ ability to introduce the HPV vaccine and address HPV vaccine hesitant parents’ concerns. In this app, you will practice techniques to introduce and discuss the vaccine with parents and patients, including those who may be hesitant to immunize. It is ideal for immunization education and provider training.

Format: Self-paced mobile app available for download from the Google Play store and the Apple iTunes store

MEDSCAPE CME: This CME activity is a roundtable discussion on HPV vaccine developed for distribution on Medscape. It can be accessed at “MedscapeCME” at http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/768633

Target Audience: This activity is intended for pediatricians, physicians in primary care and family medicine, pediatric nurses, nurse practitioners, and other healthcare professionals involved in the treatment, management, and prevention of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related disease in adolescents and/or young men and women at risk for HPV infection.

Description: CE activity for physicians, nurses, and pharmacists who recommend or provide vaccinations to preteens and teens. The goals of this activity are to increase clinician recognition of the burden of HPV-related disease and to increase understanding of Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendations for HPV disease prevention through vaccination.

• Describe the cancer risks that have been linked to HPV infection
• Apply the ACIP vaccine recommendations for HPV immunization to practice

CE is no longer available for this product .

Target Audience: Immunization Providers (Physicians, Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, Pharmacists, Physician’s Assistants, Dentists, DoD Paraprofessionals, Medical Students, etc.)

Description:  HPV vaccination is cancer prevention. While most U.S. adolescents are starting the HPV vaccine series, less than half have finished the HPV vaccine series. Every year that adolescents aren’t vaccinated is another year they are left unprotected against cancer-causing infections. A clinician recommendation plays a critical role in getting parents to accept HPV vaccination for their child.

CDC is looking to you to make an effective recommendation for HPV vaccination for all your 11-12 year old patients. This presentation is intended to support you in making effective recommendations and answering parents’ questions.  Provided in this presentation is up-to-date information on HPV infection/disease, HPV vaccine, and ways to successfully communicate with parents about HPV vaccination.

Learning Objectives

• Describe the burden of HPV infection and disease in the United States.
• Define the importance of HPV vaccination in cancer prevention.
• Describe recommendations for HPV vaccination for adolescents and adults.
• Describe the rationale for the routine HPV vaccination at age 11 or 12 years.
• List two components of an effective HPV vaccine recommendation.
• Identify relevant and compelling information to share with parents about HPV vaccine to help inform their decision to vaccinate their child.
• Locate current immunization resources to increase knowledge of the team’s role in program implementation for improved team performance.

CME: Valid through April 12, 2024.

CE Details: HPV course # WD4538

Description: This web-based course is an interactive, self-study program consisting of a series of modules covering all aspects of immunization. The modules provide basic vaccine content, links to resource materials, a comprehensive glossary, and self-tests to assess learning.

Audience: Practicing nurses and nursing students, medical assistants, pharmacists, and other health professionals who provide immunizations. The course is designed for immunization providers who are new to immunization or for those who need a refresher.

Format: Interactive web-based program.

Produced by: The Association for Prevention Teaching and Research, in collaboration with CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

To View or Order: More information and link to all available modules

Description: The Perinatal Hepatitis B Prevention Program (PHBPP) was established in 1990 by CDC. Orientation and trainings have been provided to coordinators in the past in various formats and venues. This series will combine aspects of both training on the epidemiology of hepatitis B virus and orientation to the PHBHPP in a web-based format. It presents both practice-based and program oriented content on Perinatal Hepatitis B. It addresses an educational need of an importance audience for the prevention of perinatal hepatitis B transmission, the new PHBPP Coordinator. This web-on-demand video will allow both new and experienced coordinators to improve their knowledge of perinatal hepatitis B and program management skills.

The multi-session series presents core knowledge necessary for a PHBPP Coordinator to posses to be successful in their position in concise web-based platform. The creation of this series is a direct result of requests from Coordinators for a web based training course with available continuing education.

• Identify the purpose of the Perinatal Hepatitis B Prevention Program (PHBPP).
• Identify the required PHBPP program objectives.
• Describe the relationship between the PHBPP objectives and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) Hepatitis Recommendations.
• Describe 2 activities that can be implemented to achieve the program objectives.
• Identify 3 key program data sources.
• Describe 1 way to use key data sources to improve program outcomes.

CME: CE for this course has expired.

Video, Transcript, and CE Details: Perihepb course # WD2895

Description: Provides guidelines for vaccine-preventable disease surveillance, case investigation, and outbreak control.

Audience: Physicians, infection control practitioners, nurses, epidemiologists, laboratorians, sanitarians, disease reporters, and others who are involved in surveillance and reporting of VPDs.

Format: Archived Webcast

Produced by: CDC

Description: This curriculum is designed for use in medical schools to support immunization instruction. The TIME modules provide ready-to-use instructional materials that can be integrated into existing medical curricula. The modules include vaccine indications and contraindications, immunization schedules, and recommendations on efficient ways to increase vaccination levels.

The materials provide student objectives, learning objectives, key teaching points, and resources.

Audience: Schools of Medicine

Format: Download from Internet

Produced by: The Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR), in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the CDC.

To View or Order: For information and to download a free copy, visit the APTR website

Terms Used on This Page

Broadcasts use streaming video (played as it arrives vs. waiting for entire file to be downloaded) techniques, and you can “tune it in” using something like RealPlayer. CDC’s immunization training broadcasts are offered live. Recorded sessions are archived to be played again if you missed the live session. Broadcasts are scheduled and delivered on demand.

Continuing Education (CE). Certification programs are designed to provide training to individuals, who are required to have and maintain specific levels of knowledge and skills in their job categories, often as a legal requirement to perform their duties. Certification programs may carry credits, and may be prerequisites for licensure. Requirements vary by state and profession. Disclaimer: This is a general definition and not necessarily CDC’s or an organizations’.

Continuing Medical Education (CME) credit. Continuing Nurses Education (CNE). Educational opportunities for physicians and other health professionals (CME), nurses and nurse students (CNE) to earn required continuing professional education credits. Continuing CNE and CME requirements vary from state to state. Disclaimer: This is a general definition and not necessarily CDC’s or an organizations’.

Continuing Education Units (CEU). Certain professions require that practitioners earn a specific number of CEUs per year to ensure that they are up-to-date with current practices in their field. Proof of credits earned is necessary in order to renew a license or certification. The annual number of CEUs required varies by state and profession. Disclaimer: This is a general definition and not necessarily CDC’s or an organizations’.

Training sessions are made available to you whenever you need it. An example is a TV show that can be watched whenever you want.

Podcasting is a form of audio broadcasting on the internet. An audio broadcast can be downloaded on your computer with some music software such as Media Player or iTunes.

Questions and Answers:

Questions submitted during NetConference/webcasts, including faxed and e-mailed questions not answered on-air.

Links to resources discussed during the broadcasts/webcasts.

Streaming Technology:

Data streaming, commonly seen in the forms of audio and video streaming, is when a multimedia file can be played back without being completely downloaded first. An example is watching and listening to videos via YouTube in ‘real time’.

PowerPoint presentations for each segment of the broadcasts/webcasts.

Updates and Clarifications:

Information that has changed since the broadcasts/webcasts, and explanations or clarifications of topics discussed during the webcast.

A webcast is a presentation shown on the web using streaming technology to many listeners/viewers at the same time. You can see it either live or ‘on demand’. Essentially, webcasting is “broadcasting” over the Internet. It does not allow interaction between you and the presenter.

Short for web-based seminar, a webinar is a presentation, lecture, workshop or seminar that is transmitted over the web. A key feature of a webinar is its interactive elements: the ability to give, receive and discuss information.

Please note that some of our training products do not reflect changes in CDC-INFO’s new operating hours. CDC-INFO’s hours of operation are 8:00am to 8:00pm Monday through Friday, Eastern Standard Time (EST). CDC-INFO will be closed overnight (8:00pm to 8:00am EST), Saturdays and Sundays, and on major federal holidays (New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day).

• Current Issues in Immunization Webinar (CIIW)
• Netconferences

To receive email updates about this page, enter your email address:

• Vaccines & Immunizations
• ACIP Recommendations

Exit Notification / Disclaimer Policy

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website.
• Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website.
• You will be subject to the destination website's privacy policy when you follow the link.
• CDC is not responsible for Section 508 compliance (accessibility) on other federal or private website.

Mastering Self-Control The Psychology Behind Decision-Making and Delayed Gratification

I n the realm of decision-making, the interplay between patience and impulsivity often dictates our choices, influencing outcomes that range from financial investments to health behaviors. A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles sheds light on the intricate dynamics of self-control, revealing how the presentation of information can shape our propensity for delayed gratification. By unraveling the cognitive processes underlying decision-making, this research offers valuable insights into fostering better self-control and making choices that align with long-term goals.

Understanding the Psychology of Decision-Making:

At the heart of decision-making lies a complex interplay of cognitive processes, influenced by factors such as attentional biases, time constraints, and the framing of information. Ian Krajbich, an associate professor of psychology at UCLA, and his colleagues delved into these processes, exploring how individuals navigate choices between immediate rewards and delayed benefits. Their findings underscored the importance of considering how information is presented, as well as individual tendencies towards impulsive or patient decision-making.

The Influence of Presentation Order and Time Constraints:

The study involved presenting participants with scenarios involving choices between receiving a smaller sum of money sooner or a larger sum after a delay. Surprisingly, the order in which information about the delay and reward was presented significantly impacted participants’ decisions. When the reward was presented first, participants were more inclined to opt for the delayed, larger option, showcasing a tendency towards patience. Conversely, when the delay was presented first, impulsive choices for immediate rewards were more prevalent.

Furthermore, the researchers found that time constraints played a nuanced role in decision-making. Contrary to expectations, participants facing shorter decision times exhibited greater patience, suggesting that cognitive processes may prioritize long-term benefits when under pressure. These insights challenge conventional notions about the relationship between time pressure and impulsive decision-making, highlighting the multifaceted nature of self-control.

Manipulating Bias through Information Presentation:

Building on their findings, the researchers explored how altering the presentation of information could mitigate biases towards immediate gratification. By strategically framing choices to emphasize future rewards over time delays, they observed a shift towards more patient decision-making. This suggests that interventions aimed at promoting self-control can leverage the primacy of reward information to encourage long-term thinking.

Implications for Behavior Change and Long-Term Goal Attainment:

The implications of this research extend beyond the laboratory setting, offering practical insights for promoting behavior change and fostering self-discipline in real-world contexts. Whether encouraging healthier lifestyle choices, prudent financial decisions, or long-term planning for retirement, understanding the cognitive mechanisms underlying decision-making is paramount. By prioritizing the presentation of future rewards and minimizing focus on time delays, individuals can cultivate a mindset conducive to delayed gratification and goal attainment.

Practical Applications and Future Directions:

As society grapples with challenges related to impulsivity and short-term thinking, the findings of this study offer actionable strategies for promoting self-control and responsible decision-making. From educational initiatives to public policy interventions, there exists a myriad of opportunities to apply these insights to diverse domains. Moreover, ongoing research efforts aimed at refining our understanding of decision-making processes and their neural underpinnings hold promise for advancing behavioral science and enhancing human well-being.

In the intricate dance of decision-making, mastering self-control is essential for navigating life’s myriad choices and achieving long-term success. By unraveling the cognitive mechanisms that underlie our propensity for patience or impulsivity, researchers offer valuable insights into fostering better decision-making strategies. Through strategic interventions that prioritize future rewards and mitigate biases towards immediate gratification, individuals can cultivate the discipline needed to pursue their goals with perseverance and foresight. As we continue to explore the complexities of human behavior, let us harness the power of self-control to shape a brighter future for ourselves and society as a whole.

National Registry of CPE Sponsors

• Change of Contact

QAS Self Study: Presentation

Course announcement/promotional materials.

• Promotional materials should be consistent, current and up to date.  Reference the most current course information. It could be covered in multiple sources: catalogs; course announcements; websites and course material itself.  Regarding the requirement to include a complaint resolution policy in your promotional materials, if you prefer not to use the term "complaint," you can substitute the terms "concern" or "issue" instead of "complaint" in your promotional materials. 

Course Evaluations

• Program sponsors are required to distribute a course evaluation form with each program; however, you need not obtain an evaluation form from a participant before awarding CPE credits.  Course participants are not required to complete and return course evaluation forms to the program sponsor.
• You should obtain a summary of evaluation results.  As a sponsor, you can choose to either maintain the actual evaluation forms or the summary of evaluation results or both.

Course sponsors should consider the feedback received on the evaluation forms (both quantitative and qualitative) when making enhancements to future offerings of the programs. For example,  learners may be asked “what were the most valuable aspects of the program,” “what were the least valuable aspects of the program,” or “what suggestions do you have for the program?

Other Example Evaluation Questions:

• What did you hope to gain from your participation in this learning experience?
• Did the program meet your expectations listed above?

Tools and Templates

Evaluation Questions - By Instructional Delivery Method

Sample Evaluation Form (Manual Distribution)

Sample Evaluation Form (Electronic Distribution)

Sample External Promotional Material

Sample Internal Promotional Material

Back to Best Practices