 There are times when it seems like all of us have a split personality right not in a clinical sense But we all have different aspects of ourselves that come out in different environments. There's the professional you there's the personal you the family You there's the you around your friends and there's you online and so forth all of which are a little bit different They're all you but they're all a little bit different and this is totally natural though. This is this is how the human Personality is built. We're not built to be one person at all times at the exact same person all times So we have different elements of our personality. It comes out at different times So this is really what we refer to as presenting the self right now. We present our self We have our self concept or self-esteem those types of things So how do we share that with the world in different contexts and really we find that there are really two selves We have two selves. We have first of all our perceived self. This is how we see ourselves This is how if we were to make a list of things that we would identify as our self concept and the things that we make up Or make ourselves up. This is that this is the you that you know This is the you that you see that maybe not everybody else sees every part of this Maybe there's some parts that nobody sees, you know, if we think about the Joe Harry window If you've learned about the Joe Harry window, there may be some of that That's the that the part of the perceived self the private self that nobody else sees right that's hidden away But but either way, this is how you see yourself And this is who in your mind, you know, you are who you are in the truest sense That's I that's that's who the perceived self is is is how you see yourself fully and truly But we also have the other side of us, which is the presenting self This is the side that we let out into the world that we let other people see and that we almost kind of put on a show at times not not not in a fake way, but but that we Package ourselves in a certain way right when when I go into work as Professor Rocky. I am dressed a certain way I'm not wearing mine. You know, as far as you know, I'm not wearing my acdc t-shirt and my gym shorts When I'm teaching class and that kind of thing. I'm dressed in a certain way that would be more appropriate for somebody in that position So I have my presenting self now around the house I'm definitely wearing an acdc t-shirt and gym shorts, right much to the dismay of my fashion forward daughter Who thinks I should be wearing something better, right? But but that's what I'm comfortable in so that's what I wear around the house So that's my home self so to speak That's but I have my work self my home self. I have my friends and so and we call this building face Right this this image that we put out for the world is called face Right and we work to create this face and we work to create this image and the work that goes into that It's just called face work then face work is what we do to Create that image to cultivate that image that by by wearing a certain Type of clothes by speaking a certain way I'll tell you my family also gets kicked out of watching me teach or hear me speak at different places because they say my voice Changes so the voice you're hearing here is probably not the voice that my family hears most of the time at home They say when they hear me doing these things and when they hear me teaching that my voice is different that I have my Professor voice on my almost my radio voice, right? They kind of call it but that I have a different voice when I do those things So that's part of my face work. I change my voice. I change my clothes I change all these things to build this image. Now, that's part of who I am This is my voice and this is my area of expertise. This is my profession So when I do that it's not that it's fake It's just that part of myself what I need to build in order to be successful in that part of my world And the things that I need to do at home are different than that right at home. They don't need my professor voice They don't need my expertise in the academic area of communication. They don't need any of that They need me to mow the lawn and they need me to drive them somewhere Just you know these things like that So there's a different kind of face work that goes on at home And there's a different kind of face work that goes on with my friends and things so and it's all part of us So it's all part of us. It's not I'm not talking about being fake or being false It's all part of us. So we build this presenting self by constructing face through doing face work So there are really two sides of us. We have this two selves the perceived self and the presenting self We we also then engage then when we were working in the presenting self in impression management That's really what we're talking about when we're building face when we're creating that face And part of impression management is that we strive to create multiple identities It doesn't even just happen by accident. It's something that we work at we work at creating these multiple identities And so that's important to keep that in mind that we have these different selves It's never more clear than when those worlds collide, right? So when my family is around when I'm teaching Those worlds collide and it's really weird for me. So I kind of am torn between Family me and professor me, right? So it's it's it's really kind of strange and and you've probably experienced that as well That the kind of tension that exists when your worlds are crossing over because we create these multiple identities And and when they we don't know which one to choose from when when we're involved in kind of that crossover type event, right? Impression management is also collaborative It's hard to be funny if your friend doesn't think you're funny if you're telling jokes You think you're the funny guy you think you're creating this face and this image and this impression is the the funny person in the group Right as the person who's got the best sense of humor, but nobody's laughing It's really hard to sell that isn't it and really hard to maintain that face if nobody's so you depend on others to To kind of feed into that to buy into that Impression and to to help you build that face and help you with that face for it because impression management is Largely collaborative with those around you And impression management can be deliberate or it can be subconscious Sometimes we do it on purpose sometimes we don't do it on purpose sometimes We're really intentional about building that that face and and I'm working on our impression management other times We're not social media for example is one place where we are very deliberate about it, right? Most people are very Specific about what kinds of pictures they put up they cultivate this image through social media And that's that's very deliberate impression management other times. It just kind of happens you're being who you are It just kind of happens naturally and it's subconscious We may not even think about it, but we're still building that face We're still you know working toward that impression that we want to build We just may not even be fully conscious of it at the time So impression management can be deliberate or sometimes it can be subconscious and we do it without even really realizing Whatever the case impression management and and the presenting self are very important There's nothing wrong with with with the presenting self. It's again. It's not fake. It's not False. It's not lying. It's not deception. Those are different things You can do all those things of course, but that's not what we're talking about here We're talking about presenting the real you but just different parts of the real you in different contexts, right? And that's a perfectly natural thing for people to do If you have questions about the presenting self or perceived self or anything related to that impression management Please feel free to contact me not necessarily about how to make a good impression But about the qualities of impression management itself from a communicative aspect You can email me and be happy to chat with you about that via email in the meantime I hope that you will give consideration to your presenting self and think about you know What kind of image are you putting together? What kind of impression are you giving off for people? And is it the appropriate one is and is it truly you? So those are all important questions to be asking yourself because we all have it in those two selves Perceive self and the presenting self and we want to be as conscious as we can about how we manage each of those things