Erving Goffman The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life Essay Example for Free

Erving Goffman The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life EssayErving Goffman has completed a wonderful presentation of merciful behaviour and face-to-face interactions, of a first meeting between two people, who may or may not have an audience. The theatrical role of a theatrical performance to explain the interaction was indeed an ingenious idea that kept me intrigued until the very end. This book was written in 1959 but its referencing to human behaviour is still very much relevant to todays life style. Human behaviour patterns have been written somewhat by many another(prenominal) individuals over the years, why we do the things we do or how long we have been undertaking these behaviours. Is thither any relevance to the patterns in our behaviour? It would seem there definitely appears to be. As a society, to influence how another person perceives who we are.We give appearances and refinements of someone we want people to see, yet not situationly who we truly are. Goffma n describes this as a performance, a play that we put on to give a good first impression. This play could become a nightmare, if we do not lionise it under control. It can be difficult to play the part of someone you are not, for the reason that it can rebound on you. It is better to persist with who you are, and not reveal all of yourself in the beginning, like a good story. To present who we are, we should start at the foundation, begin with presenting an opening act. This act should be near to dead on target life, the person you would like to be known as. Currently a person of importance gives the impression that they know what they are doing, example your doctor.If they were a person who, on first meeting gave the impression that they were unsure, confused and unconfident, would you go back to them? No, perhaps not. Even when they are having a bad day your doctor will ever so appear to be in control, so that we feel more at ease. When we first meet new people we try to acquir e information about them, it is then how the person delivers this information, that we base our assumptions. People give information verbally and non-verbally by expressions, movements, gestures and other presumably unintentional communications, like a slight smile.Our capitulum takes all this information into consideration then makes a personal judgment based on the material it collects. There is so much information for us to collect and make our decision on, that we sometimes need a second meeting to be able to make a correct judgement on a particular person we have meet. Goffman concludes that his own assumptions are made upon a face-to-face interaction and the result of an encounter, the performance that is given to each particular participant and their performance as a basic point of reference. In conclusion, Goffmans writings clearly represent how we present ourselves in everyday life today, and peradventure well into the future.ReferencesErving, Goffman (1959). The Presenta tion of Self in Everyday Life, New York, Anchor Books, pp. 1-16.