Perception was our topic this week.Perception to me is ones thoughts towards something or someone. Perception defined in Human Communication as noticing, interpreting and organizing data about people, events, activities and situation while in Psychology perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information which pretty much means the same thing.

We always consciously or subconsciously have perception towards or about other people.
Since we have perception day in day out..You know there would be factors that would influence these perception which includes our own narratives, perceptual tendencies, situational factor, culture and ones ability and willingness to empathize. (according to syllabus)
Other factors that influences ones perception: (Some might be similar to the one stated above)

• Previous learning and experiences.
  
• Attitude and interest.
• Needs and feelings
• Current Situation.
• Socio-economics (occupation, level of education, environmental factors)
  
• Personal Differences (age, gender, race)
• Cultural Differences (customs, believes, historical perspective)

We also have perception about ourselves. The self-concept which in lay man terms means a mental image we have of ourselves, influences the our perception about ourselves. Also, self concept is also related to the self esteem we have. A bad self concept is and will be ones worst enemy which in return will lowers ones self esteem. Our self concept are influenced by reflected appraisal by significant others (people who have made an impact in your life e.g: parents, close friend, lecturer) and also by culture, language and values.

Now this is interesting, Identity/Impression Management.A person generally would have a public self and a private self. The public or open self of a person is the side/characteristic that is shown to everyone that.It who we want everyone to know us as be it whether we are faking it or not.The private or hidden self of a person is the true or real side/characteristic that isnt shown to everyone..this side is usually only known to the people close to us. Besides that there are these 2 other sides of us which is the blind self which is the side of us people can see but we ourselves don't realise (quirks) and the unknown self where neither we or others know (unconcsiouc/untapped part).

Examples of good use of identity and impression management are went about to give a presentation or going for a job interview where we try our best to show the positive characteristics.

Examples of unappropriated and disagreeable use of identity management whether its conscious and unconscious is when its use for negative purposes. One example is in the movie Mean Girls where the main character Cady (Lindsay Lohan) faked her personality to fit in the popular girls group just to help her other friends to plot a revenge on popular girls. Which we can all guess didn't turn out so well.


Now a question that have been lingering in my mind. When we say someone is being 2 face would that be considered as he/she acting in the name of identity management?


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