Original scientific paper
Consistency of Self-Presentation with the Notion of Private Self
Josip BURUŠIĆ
Abstract
In this paper consisting of two studies the author attempts to establish
to which extent the self-presentation of people is consistent
with the private notion they have of themselves, since some of the
previous research on self-presentation does not provide unambiguous
answers to this question. In the first study, 139 examinees
assess the notion of private self and mode of self-presentation
using a larger number of adjectives of different social desirability
in completely anonimous conditions. In the second study 145
examinees assess the notion of private self in anonimous circumstances,
whereas the mode of self-presentation is assessed by
signing a protocol and receiving instruction that introduces group
discussion on these assessments. The aim of the latter is to determine
whether the introduction of the variable of publicity, operationalised
through demands for signatures and hints of group
discussion, can influence the assessment of modes of self-presentation.
The results obtained indicate that a statistically significant
difference in assessments has appeared and that the attribution
of specific traits as more characteristic of the notion of self
and others as more characteristic of the mode of self-presentation
depends on the social desirability of these traits. The results
show that statistically significant differences do not occur between results in the first and second studies, and that the announced
existence of group discussion has resulted merely in a decreased
attribution of highly desirable traits as more characteristic for the
mode of self-presentation. The findings of the researches conducted
indicate that it is possible to determine specific approaches in
the assessment of the notion of private self and modes of selfpresentation
and that it is possible to determine four styles of selfpresentation,
which are to the greatest extent mutually discriminate
in the mode of self-presentation, and to a lesser degree in
the assessments of the notions they have of themselves.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
20013
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2001.
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