Impression management theory

The main idea of ​​Hoffmann's theory is that in the process of interaction, people usually play peculiar “shows” in front of each other, directing impressions about themselves perceived by others. Social roles are thus similar to theatrical roles. Consequently, people design their own image , usually in ways that best serve their own goals. The regulation of interactions between people is based on the expression of symbolic meanings that are advantageous to them, and they often create situations in which they believe they can make the most favorable impression on others. The performer must take a responsible approach to the choice of expressive or expressive means of his actions, since many small accidental acts sometimes turn out to be perfectly adapted to convey impressions that do not correspond to this moment. Such events were called involuntary. When an outsider accidentally invades the area where they are giving a presentation, or when a member of the audience inadvertently enters the backstage, such an intruder seems to catch the flagrante delicato present. Without any malicious intent, the people present in the zone may be caught in activities that are completely incompatible with the impression that they are obliged, for more general social reasons, to support the intruder. In this case, the failure to fulfill due to untimely invasion.

Scene

Hoffman calls scenes situations in which an individual acts with the intention of destroying or disturbing the appearance of polite consent to a dangerous verge, and although he may pursue a more complex goal than simply disturbing peace, he still realizes that the likely result of his behavior will be or other violation of general consent. Some scenes arise when some team members are no longer able to endure the inept performance of others and suddenly explode by direct public criticism of those very people with whom they should maintain dramatic cooperation. Such a violation of team discipline is often destructive for execution, which the arguing parties must together present: one of the consequences of the scandal is the opportunity for the audience to look behind the curtains, and the other is to leave it with the feeling that there is probably something suspicious in this performance, since those who know its better, do not agree with him. Another type of scene happens when the audience can no longer or does not want to continue the game of polite interaction and therefore aggressively meets the performers with such actions or expressive antics that would be unacceptable to any team. This is the case when a person gathers his civic courage into a fist and decides to "explain himself" to another or to "tell him everything as it is." Another type of scene arises when the interaction between two persons becomes so loud, heated, or otherwise attracting attention that people nearby, who are engaged in their own conversational interaction, are forced to become witnesses or even take sides and intervene in a fight. The last of the types of scenes we are analyzing happens when a person acting as a one-membered team takes serious obligations, makes serious claims and requests and leaves no way for himself to retreat, because the audience would not forgive him. Typically, such a person tries to ensure that his claims are consistent with the likely requests of this audience and are approved and recognized by it. But if his motivation for self-expression is strong enough, this individual can make claims or take on obligations that, as he knows, the audience, it is possible that he will reject. He deliberately weakens his defense in the presence of people to the audience, giving himself, as they say, to their mercy. By such an act, the individual turns to them with a proposal to treat them as part of his team, or to allow himself to be considered part of their team. Such a situation is rather difficult in itself, but when a defenseless request is answered with a direct refusal, a person also suffers from ordinary humiliation.

Incidents

Involuntary gestures, untimely intrusions, and scenes are often called “incidents” in everyday language. When any of them occurs, the perception of reality supported by the performers is at risk. Most likely, those present during the incident will react with emotion, a sense of awkwardness, embarrassment, nervousness, etc. Participants may feel literally unsettled. When such manifestations of nervousness or symptoms of confusion become noticeable, the notion of reality supported by this execution is likely to be in an even more threatened and weakened state, since in most cases these manifestations are characteristic of the individual himself, who represents some kind of character to other people , and not the character depicted by him, as a result of which an unplanned image of a person hiding behind the presented mask is imposed on the audience.

To prevent the occurrence of incidents and the confusion caused by them, all participants in the interaction (as well as those who are not participating, but present) need to have certain properties and be able to apply them in practical actions developed to save this performance. These properties and practical actions will be considered under three headings: protective measures applied by performers to save their own performance; protective measures used by the audience and outsiders to help performers to save their performance; and finally, measures that should make it possible for members of the audience and outsiders to apply protective measures on behalf of the performers.

Dramatic Fidelity

It is quite obvious that if a team chooses a certain line of behavior, then the team members must act as if they have assumed certain moral obligations. So, older family members often do not allow the child in the house into the hearing zone of their gossip and self-repentance, because you can never know for sure to whom the child will decide to pass on the secrets he has heard. Therefore, only when the child enters the age of understanding and legibility in relations with people, parents get the opportunity not to lower their voices as he approaches. Authors of the 18th century We discussed a similar problem of violation of house loyalty by hired servants, that is, in this case, people are quite old and better versed in people: This lack of devotion [to the servants of the owners] caused a lot of minor troubles, which only very few employers managed to completely get rid of. Not the last of these troubles was the addiction of the servants to retelling the knowledge of their masters about their affairs. Defoe emphasized this, instructing the female servant “to add respect to the masters to other virtues, which will teach you prudence in keeping family secrets; the absence of this virtue is a great evil ... " ^[1]

Perhaps the key problem of maintaining fidelity to team members (and obviously members of other types of collective associations, too) is to prevent performers from developing such a sympathetic attachment to audience members when performers begin to reveal to them the true meanings and consequences for them of the impressions imposed on them, or somehow make the whole team pay for this affection. One of the main ways a team can develop to protect themselves from such infidelity is to develop strong intra-group solidarity, while creating a kind of backstage image of the audience that portrays it as soulless enough to allow performers to fool its people with emotional and moral composure. To what extent the team members and their colleagues will be able to form a perfect social community that offers each performer a solid place and a source of moral support (regardless of his success or failure to maintain a representative facade in front of the audience), the performers are likely to be able to protect themselves from doubt and guilt and use any kind of fraud.

Dramatic discipline

Decisive for maintaining the life of team performance is the fact that each member of the team is subject to drama discipline and follows it in the performance of its own role. Although the performer usually seems completely absorbed in his performance and unaccountably captured by his own actions, he is nevertheless obliged to maintain an emotional detachment from the process of his performance to others so as to freely enough to cope with dramatic surprises as they arise. He is obliged to demonstrate intellectual and emotional involvement in the activity presented before others, but he must refrain from absolute passion for his own separate performance so that his participation does not interfere with the task of staging a team-wide successful performance. A performer disciplined in a dramatic sense is one who remembers his role and does not allow involuntary gestures in its performance. He is discreet and will not fail to present himself by accidentally exposing his secrets. He is a resourceful person, preserving the “presence of the spirit” under any circumstances, and capable of covering up inappropriate tricks from his teammates without preparation, while at the same time supporting the impression that he is simply playing his usual part. And if the disruption of the performance cannot be avoided or hidden, the disciplined performer is always ready to offer a plausible explanation why one should not pay attention to this destructive event, in a humorous manner diminish its importance, or by reinforced praise and self-humiliation raise the spirit of those responsible for the disruption. A disciplined performer is also a person with "self-control", or "self-control." He knows how to suppress his emotional reactions to personal problems, to the mistakes of teammates and to the audience, when she arouses inappropriate hostility or love in him.

Dramatic Diligence

Fidelity and discipline, in the dramatic sense of these terms, are the properties necessary for team members if it is necessary for the performance they stage to continue. In addition, it is very useful if team members use the human ability of foresight and planning, determining in advance how best to stage the performance. Prudence should be practiced. If caution and honesty are not exercised, disruptions in performance are possible. But if all the time they show extra caution and inflexible honesty, it is unlikely that the performers will understand simply “very well” —they may misunderstand, not enough, or they will greatly limit themselves in realizing the dramatic opportunities that are open to them. A prudent performer will also try to find the right audience that will cause a minimum of hassle regarding the performance he wants to stage and the performance he does not want to see. For example, teachers, as a rule, do not like to work with primary school students or high school students, because in dealing with both of these groups it is more difficult to maintain a definition of the situation that confirms the professional role of the teacher. ^[2] For these dramatic reasons, teachers prefer to work with middle-aged students.

Sociologist M. Marchington notes that it is not always possible to apply this concept. In the HR department, its use is dangerous, employees can get carried away with “influence management” - that is, their goal will be to influence management and colleagues, proclaiming an irreconcilable position regarding innovations. HR specialists who seek to attract attention by simply promoting the newest zest of the month, no matter how appropriate and feasible, fall into the trap that P. Drucker , 40 years ahead of M. Marchington, described as follows: Constant anxiety all HR department managers are their inability to prove that they are contributing to the enterprise. Their concern is with the search for a “tricky mechanism” that will influence their leading colleagues.

1. ↑ Hecht JJ The domestic servants class in eighteenth-century England .. - 1956. - S. 81.
2. ↑ Becker HS Social class variations in the teacher-pupil relationship // Journal of Educational Sociology. - T. 25 . - S. 461-462 .

[Hoffman I. G57 Presentation of oneself to others in everyday life / Transl. with English and entry. article by A. D. Kovalev. - M.: “CANON-Press-Ts”, “Kuchkovo Field”, 2000. - 304 p. (Small series “LOGICA SOCIALIS” in the series “Publications of the Center for Fundamental Sociology”)

Mick Marchington Reorganization of work. / Anthology Learning Management / S. 96.