September Blog Post

A concept that we talked about in class this month that interested me is the idea of a stage metaphor. The concept of your front and back stage self, or your hidden and presenting self is a concept that really made me think about the application. I really enjoyed when Professor Ivey said that one is not wrong because you are the show in its entirety, even if you have both of those identities. I believe it is vital to not only understand this concept, but also apply this to your current life to reflect on who you allow to see which identity.

            I can apply this to my life because I have few people that I allow see my back stage self, allowing most people to see my front stage or presenting identity. I believe this can also relate to the idea of performance which is how we perform our identity on a day to day basis. Personally I believe how I perform my identity depends on what is salient at the time. I believe first and foremost I perform as a student at Boise State in order to show that main side of my identity in class, but when I am outside of class being a supportive friend, family member, and significant other is what I want to perform. Another term we discussed that relates to the situation of my performance is Fiske’s idea of ideological claw back which means people who police norms by bringing you back to the norms when you see alternate ways. I believe I can relate to this when I am in class because my student performance is what is most salient, but at times I make a connection or friend in the classroom which makes me want to perform my friendly identity. Although I want to do this during a small group discussion, there is normally an individual who is not open to sharing or connecting besides being similar as the student identity which feels as though they are pulling me back to that norm.

            Another place where I see an example of performance and the ideological claw back is in the realm of social media. I believe that people perform their identity in a particular way on social media for people to only view their presenting self, and very rarely their hidden self because they only want their audience to see the “best” sides. I have also seen social media as an ideological claw back because it enforces many norms. For example, some of the most famous people on the Instagram platform are beautiful men and women, who have created this success from social media itself. Many individuals begin to believe that they too can become “Instagram famous”, but when they try the claw back of society comes back to show that being “Instagram famous” is not a norm in our society. The people who police this norms are ones who choose to judge individuals by their looks or lifestyle to see if they are worthy, when there really should never be a place where you have to be worthy of anything in my opinion. Overall I believe performance is a concept that is very applicable and instilled in our society, which can be viewed as both a negative and positive thing.

September Blog

Stereotype by definition is a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.  There are both advantages and disadvantages to stereotypes, although on the flip side it does create misconceived ideas about groups of people before even interacting and making personal judgements yourself.  It also eliminates us to see differences between individuals and make generalized opinions, some that most likely are not true.  Although one advantage to stereotypes is it allows us to make decisions rapidly in situations because there's a chance we can relate to the situation.  Stereotypes lead to social categorization, eventually leading to judging those who are "in" your group versus those who are "out."  It is important to not view those who are not like you as less than but as unique to yourself.  For instance those with disabilities should never be seen as less intelligent just because people stereotype them as "not capable."  Overall stereotypes may or may not accurately reflect reality.     

In class we discussed two readings: Man Up and Sister Citizen both addressing stereotypes from different viewpoints.  For example Man Up was more from a personal experience where he expressed his life and how he had a preconceived idea about how he could not be afraid as a boy.  It was his job to "man up" and be strong when it came to things he was afraid of.  There is a stereotype that men are strong and not sensitive which impacts how young boys grow up hiding those emotions.  Whereas in Sister Citizen it is more universal and broad in how the reading talks about groups of people and how they "adjust" to images in this crooked room based on where they come from.  Not everyone has the same opportunities to education for example, and there is a stereotype about low income students not being as intelligent as those who come from higher income families.  This has to due with the accessibilities that some students have other another because of where they grew up.  

Although the term stereotype has a common universal meaning, I think it is still interpreted in a variety of different ways.  One key example of stereotypes is in the movie "Mean Girls" with Lindsey Lohan, where she is homeschooled her entire life leading up to high school.  She moves from Africa to attend a public school for the first time, and there are immediate responses and judgements made about her because of where she is from and that she was homeschooled.  Stereotypes are made about groups of people based on looks, what their interests are, and ultimately how they present themselves.  For example in the movie there is a map made of where everyone sits at lunch, again categorizing people. 

September Blog Post

Stereotypes/Stereotyping. No one wants to be put into a group and have assumptions made about their lives based on appearance, gender, or interests. We all say that we don’t stereotype, but it is a natural thing to automatically do. It is not a bad thing (to an extent) because you subconsciously do it, however when you apply the stereotypes and act on those, that is when it becomes bad. Stereotyping is putting people into a box and basically telling them “hey you, you appear to be this, so you obviously fit into this group and act in certain ways.” Stereotyping in the world of cultural communication retracts our ability to properly communicate with others. When we make assumptions about someone, our brain shuts off the ability to communicate without any barriers between you and the other.

(Forgive me because what I am about to talk about may have been mentioned in class)         

Now, I am a HUGE fan of the television show, The Office. It is one of my go-to shows whenever I cannot decide what to watch on Hulu or Netflix. My husband and I have seen the complete series multiple times (don’t judge me). In season one, episode two (I Googled it, I am not that crazy of a fan…) Michael (Steve Carell) holds a “Diversity Day” (you can watch this scene in the link that I provided to help you better understand what I am talking about) training seminar where he tries to teach about the stereotypes with different cultures/races within the office. He later assigns each staff member an index card that is taped to their foreheads that has a different race/gender/culture on it. The staff goes around talking with one another trying to guess what is taped to their foreheads. The staff members are not into the ‘exercise’ because they see that stereotyping is wrong and inappropriate. They are going around and helping the others guess what is on their forehead by talking like the stereotypes that have been assigned to those cultures/race/etc. Obviously, this is highly inappropriate for any setting, especially a place of business. But it is a great example to show how stereotypes are seen and how they can build up a wall that blocks the field of communication between two people. 

September Blog Post

I am going to focus my blog this month on the idea of impression management. Goffman argued that “people engage in impression management, observing that we build an impression for ourselves of ourselves for others.” What we wear, how and when to speak, and many others influence how we portray ourselves when dealing with impression management. In my Communication 221 class, we are currently talking about the idea of presenting yourself and maintaining a public self. Somebody’s face is the person they are showing to others and it influences how others view them. We are also learning about masks, which are used to conceal people’s faces. Basically the mask is used to conceal the private self, so that people can control how others see them. This all relates back to impression management because the face and the mask are similar in the way that they somewhat control how others view us and what they think of us.

All of this brought me back to the every job interview I have had in my life so far. When interviewing for a job, it is important that the interviewee is on their best behavior, dressing for the occasion, and portraying all of their best qualities that would fit that job description. If somebody is interviewing for a prestigious job, it is important that they do all of these things in nice business clothes, but this isn’t the same at every job. If somebody is interviewing for a job at a daycare or somewhere less serious with a more open environment, it may not be required that the interviewee wears nice business clothes and speaks a specific way. They may want to show their more fun side since they will be dealing with kids. This all deals with the idea of impression management because we want to build an impression of ourselves in a way that will make others see is in a certain way. This isn’t just for jobs though, people use impression management everywhere they go. A teenager would probably act a little bit different around their grandparents as they would around their best friends or their teachers. Impression management is something people do every day whether we realize it or not, and it completely shapes the way others think of us.

September Blog Post

The concept I will be discussing is perception and identity. Perception is how people see, influenced by the social, political, and cultural experiences that influence and mark them. A similar way to describe perception is someone’s point of view. As for identity it is the totality of the persons self attributes at a given moment in time. Identity is who someone is such as a daughter, student, where they’re from and more concepts that makes an individual unique. Our perception has to do with our identity. For example, if someone is a strong republican, then that shapes their perception based on their identity. 

In class Mrs. Ivey talked about a picture of a glass mason jar with big rocks, pebbles and sand. The big rocks go in first as they take up the most room, then the pebbles which fill in between the big rocks, lastly goes the sand that fills up the rest of the jar. This is an example of perception because the big rocks represent what is most important in someone’s life which must always be first such as family and friends. The pebbles represent the second most important things that are still a priority but not as much as family or friends. Lastly is the sand which is the outside factors. The mason jar can only be filled up in that order or else not everything fits. This represents the influences that makes up who you are by what you believe is most important to you must go first and everything else will fall into place.               

Everyone’s perception is different just like their identity. My identity first comes as a daughter and girlfriend. My family is the most important thing to me and being a daughter to my parents is the biggest part of my identity because I wouldn’t be who I am without them. Second would be a girlfriend as I have been with my boyfriend for a long time and he is basically part of my family, being in a relationship helped me grow into the person I am today. The last factors of my identity would be volleyball and being a Washingtonian. I have been playing volleyball since I was 12 and today it consumes my life. Even though I go to school in Idaho I am from Washington and growing up there is a big part of who I am and has an impact on the people I have met throughout my life. There is a term called saliency which is what is being utilized the most. For example, if I was in the moment playing volleyball I would be salient toward volleyball because that is what I am doing in the moment. 

Identity and perception are important because these concepts make you who you are. Identity and perception are something that is unique to everyone because everyone is different. Where you grow up and the people you’re around shapes your perception and identity so knowing the importance of the influences around you is important for shaping who you’re. 

September Blog Post

My communication classes have all overlapped and in my comm 221 class, we have also discussed social construction and stereotypes in the context of forming perceptions of others. I think in today's culture you often hear people say "don't judge" me and automatically assume that we will automatically put them into a box. I used to think that this was all completely wrong, but I realized that everyone does it to reduce uncertainty about others. Sometimes this can help us maybe be more emotionally intelligent, but it can also just as easily build up walls between ourselves and potentionally great relationships.
One of the best examples of sterotyping that I can think of in pop culture is in the Disney movie High School Musical. All of the characters have distinct identities and interests that categorize them and make them belong to a group. It makes it easier for someone to look at them based on how they dress and act and reduce the uncertainty that might be there. For example, when Troy meets Gabriella, it is easy for her to categorize him into a social group and find out information about him, by looking at how he acts, and who he associates with, which is Chad and the rest of the basketball team.

However, like I said earlier this can also negatively affect how we treat others and act towards them in a negative way. If we don't give others enough room to speak for themselves, they might feel like they are stuck in a socially constructed way of acting, thinking, and feeling. Just as Troy was scared that his basketball buddies would reject him if he sang in the school talent show, we also are fearful of rejection. We want to belong, but there is also a fine line we must walk with ourselves and also teh way we see others. Being self-aware when we are meeting people for the frist time is important so that they can have the chance to speak to who they truely are and how they may or may not follow social construction, and stereotypes that we have already given them.

September Blog-Taylor Schellenger

For my September blog post, I am going to focus on stereotypes and Goffman’s Impression Management. We are all well aware of what stereotypes are, but for those who don’t know, they are defined as conclusions about people that reduce them from unique individuals to predictable types. Most people stereotype without even realizing it because it is so easy and common to do so. Goffman’s Impression Management is probably something many people haven’t heard of, but often without thinking about it or realizing there is a name for it. It’s an impression of ourselves for ourselves and others. My own personal definition of stereotype is judging someone based on preconceived notions. My interpretation of Goffman’s Impression Management is the way we view ourselves and how we think other people view us. 

An example of common stereotyping in today’s society is based on people who don’t fit the mold of what is socially acceptable to wear or look like in public. We have preconceived notions of what we think are “good looking” versus “not so-good looking” people. If we see someone wearing a floral printed shirt with striped shorts, some of us would automatically stereotype them as weird or different for their outfit they are wearing. This goes for Goffman’s Impression Management as well.

An example of this is how we perceive the world, is how we are going to make ourselves be perceived to the world around us as well. If we see a repeat of different people wearing black pants and a white t-shirt we may wear that same outfit too because we know it is socially acceptable based on the people around us. Celebrities are a very good example of this, in magazines and online articles, there are always people like Gigi Hadid or Kendall Jenner being photographed in different outfits. Girl around their age look up to them and automatically want to dress the same way. These celebrities establish social norms for us as a society. Attached is an article of different outfits of Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner. If you look at some of the outfits they are wearing, many girls have tried and replicated the same looks. This is where stereotyping and Goffman’s theory come into play.

https://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/kendall-jenner-gigi-hadid-matching-outfits-twinning