Impression Management

Impression management is the strategic action of controlling information about a person, entity, or idea. Impression management is not an inherently deceptive practice; rather, impression management is an attempt to portray and claim a desired image in social interactions. When the images claimed are personally relevant, impression management is known as self-presentation.

Impression management is an important theoretical framework for the study of social psychology. It derives from the work of Erving Goffman, whose 1959 work The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life crystallized the dramaturgical view of sociology, which holds that social interaction between individuals is best understood through the metaphor of actors performing for audiences. Individuals, like actors, want audiences to interpret their actions in particular ways. However, audiences often interpret a performance differently ...