Respond bias has always been a risk when it comes to interpreting personality data. For this reason two social desirability measures were created to combat this problem during research and workplace application. The first of these measures is the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale created to measure a need for approval. The second of these measures is Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding, which stems from a theory that describes social desirability as both a deception towards others and towards the self. For either of these measures to be usable, however, they need to be reliable and valid. This study then is intended to validate these two instruments in a diverse South African population sample and to look at the reliability of the items in these instruments and their factor structure. The objective of this study was to investigate both of these measures and to determine their psychometric properties and how they compare to the theory in literature. A convenient and purposive sample of N = 359 individuals from across South Africa was contacted via electronic means and asked to partake in this study. A questionnaire survey was forwarded to them with the intention of measuring social desirability. This included both the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MCSDS) and Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR) measure. In addition a demographical questionnaire was included (gender, race, language group and age). The statistical analysis was done via the SPSS program during data examination: descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis (with Maximum Likelihood as extraction method), Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, and product-moment correlations were conducted. The results of this analysis indicated that although these measures are widely accepted and used internationally, the full version of both the measures is not valid and reliable within this South African sample. Although not all items from the scales could be validated, there were items that indicated very acceptable psychometric properties. Various recommendations were made for the context of using these measures to ascertain an individual’s response bias and for future research. A person attempting to use these measures should only focus on using the reliable items from this study. These items could be applied in developing a shortened version of these measures. It is recommended that further research into these measures could be done by using a traditional paper-and pencil format, a larger sample or by focusing on a specific population group within South Africa. / MCom (Industrial Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

This research study examined what the motivations and consequences of self-disclosure on Instagram were as well as its correlation with Impression Management Theory. The research used a 37 question survey which was distributed on social media, through the Department of Media and Communication at ETSU as well as a public speaking class. There were 232 participants in this study who were 18 or older and used Instagram. Research found that individuals’ self disclose using levels of relationship management, showing off, information sharing and habitual behavior. Future research includes the opportunity to incorporate a sample of participants across different cultures to analyze the differences in self-disclosure styles on Instagram.

Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) is defined as employee behavior that benefits others yet is not required by the employee’s job description. OCB can be divided into two categories: behavior that is either directed toward individuals (OCBI) or behavior that is directed toward the organization (OCBO). Researchers have posited that there are three different motives behind OCB: impression management, prosocial values, and organizational concern. Additionally, researchers have recognized the importance of coworker relationships within organizations and have suggested that the degree to which one likes his or her coworkers may serve as an additional source of motivation to engage in different types of OCB. This research consisted of two studies investigating the effect of motive and coworker liking on intention to engage in OCBO and OCBI. Participants in both studies read a vignette manipulating motive and degree of coworker liking. The second study incorporated two additional items in the manipulation check to increase the saliency of the coworker liking manipulation. In both Study 1 and Study 2 participants were more likely to engage in OCBO than in OCBI. Both studies failed to support the hypotheses that either motive or degree of liking would predict the type of OCB performed.

Erving Goffman is an important sociologist whose dramaturgical perspective on social interaction and presentation of the self is a classic within sociology. However, social interaction and presentations of the self occurs increasingly more online. Goffman’s perspective is, unfortunately, limited to face-to-face interaction. The aim of this study is to discuss how far Goffman’s dramaturgical perspective can take us in a discussion on the private and the public in online presentations of the self in Facebook and personal blogs. The aim is specified with the following research questions: What are the possible constrains and possibilities? What happens to the central concepts in the model? How can the model be critically developed to online presentations of the self? The discussion connects to the distinction between the private and the public, as it implicitly is presented in Goffman’s model. The discussion draws on empirical material consisting of reflections of ten individuals on their social practices on Facebook and personal blogs. As all respondents use both applications, it opens up for a comparison between how they present themselves in each forum. All respondents presented themselves differently on Facebook compared to their personal blogs. Goffman’s model works better on self-presentations on Facebook than on personal blogs, which are contradictive to the model. Facebook is about staging a successful character. Conversely, the idea with the personal blog was to stage the front stage as a backstage. Performances on the personal blog constitute an inverted model where the intimate is sublimated and ritualized. Additionally, impression management follows an altered logic of selective opening of the backstage. However, the performances are just as, if not even more, theatrical and dramaturgical as performances in Goffman’s model. Moreover, social situations on Facebook and personal blogs are dissimilar to face-to-face situations. Both settings can be seen as an abstract sociability rather than a concrete sociability. There is no immediate co-presence between the interactants which has the consequence of creating an uncertainty of in front of whom the performance actually is held, which in addition makes the social situation diffuse, scattered and harder to define.

This dissertation explores personal digital archiving practices, particularly in relation to the construction of self. Personal digital archiving is an everyday practice through which people manage and preserve digital documents that have particular meanings to them. This process involves a constant value assignment that is intertwined with the recollection of life events. In-depth case studies were used to gain a holistic understanding as close to research participants’ perspectives as possible. Semi-structured narrative interviews were conducted with 23 individuals from various backgrounds.The results are discussed in relation to emotions and self-evaluation. Personal digital archiving as a process, directly or indirectly, involves a self-enhancement and self-verification which is an integral part of self-confirmation. This study contributes to the in-depth observation of everyday record-keeping in a digital environment, particularly providing interpretive accounts of individual differences and why people do things in a certain way. / text

Expressive Writing (EW) involves writing in an emotionally expressive manner about an experienced event, and has been shown to be related to increases in psychological and physical well-being. The purpose of the current study was to extend previous work by examining how self-presentation affects psychological and physical gains following the EW task. Forty one participants who have experienced a traumatic event were recruited from the community and given either an EW or control activity. Measures assessing self-presentation and various indices of health were administered at baseline and again at one month follow-up to determine changes in symptomatology. Results indicated that higher levels of perfectionistic self-presentation were significantly associated with less improvement in symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress. Further, a nonsignificant moderation trend emerged whereby higher levels of perfectionistic self-presentation were associated with more improvement in symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress in the EW group but not control group.

Expressive Writing (EW) involves writing in an emotionally expressive manner about an experienced event, and has been shown to be related to increases in psychological and physical well-being. The purpose of the current study was to extend previous work by examining how self-presentation affects psychological and physical gains following the EW task. Forty one participants who have experienced a traumatic event were recruited from the community and given either an EW or control activity. Measures assessing self-presentation and various indices of health were administered at baseline and again at one month follow-up to determine changes in symptomatology. Results indicated that higher levels of perfectionistic self-presentation were significantly associated with less improvement in symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress. Further, a nonsignificant moderation trend emerged whereby higher levels of perfectionistic self-presentation were associated with more improvement in symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress in the EW group but not control group.

Submitted by Rodrigo de Oliveira Leite (rodrigo.leite2015@fgvmail.br) on 2015-12-15T13:33:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 d-final.pdf: 1134926 bytes, checksum: 9a3b40813a4fdd6fb3dbbf240281c3a7 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by ÁUREA CORRÊA DA FONSECA CORRÊA DA FONSECA (aurea.fonseca@fgv.br) on 2016-01-27T19:47:33Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 d-final.pdf: 1134926 bytes, checksum: 9a3b40813a4fdd6fb3dbbf240281c3a7 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2016-02-01T13:49:51Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 d-final.pdf: 1134926 bytes, checksum: 9a3b40813a4fdd6fb3dbbf240281c3a7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-01T13:50:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 d-final.pdf: 1134926 bytes, checksum: 9a3b40813a4fdd6fb3dbbf240281c3a7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-19 / This thesis aims to explore the concept of impression management from the financial analysts’ point of view. Impression management is the definition of the act of an agent manipulating an impression that another person have of this agent, in the context of this thesis it happens when a company make graphics to disclosure financial-accounting information in order to manipulate the market’s perception of their performance. Three types of impression management were analyzed: presentation enhancement (color manipulation), measurement distortion (scale manipulation) and selectivity (the disclosure of positive information only). While presentation enhancement improved only the most impulsive financial analysts’ perception of firm’s performance, the measurement distortion improved the perception of performance for both groups of financial analysts (impulsive and reflective). Finally, selectivity improved the financial analysts’ perception of firm’s performance for both groups (impulsive and reflective), although impulsive financial analysts assigned lower ratings when compared to their reflective peers, on average, to a hypothetical company. / Esta dissertação tem como alvo explorar o impression management (gerenciamento de impressão) do ponto de vista dos analistas financeiros. O gerenciamento de impressão acontece quando alguém tenta manipular a impressão de terceiros quanto à sua pessoa, no âmbito desta dissertação ele acontece quando uma empresa manipula gráficos com informações financeirocontábeis para manipular a impressão do mercado quanto à sua performance. Foram analisados três tipos de gerenciamento de impressão: presentation enhancement (manipulação de cores), measurement distortion (manipulação de escalas) e selectivity (divulgação apenas de informações positivas). Enquanto o presentation enhancement melhorou a percepção de performance apenas para os analistas financeiros mais impulsivos, o measurement distortion melhorou a percepção de performance para ambos os grupos de analistas (impulsivos e reflexivos). E, por fim, selectivity melhorou a percepção de performance para ambos os grupos de analistas (impulsivos e reflexivos), porém analistas impulsivos deram menores ratings em média do que os reflexivos para a empresa hipotética deste estudo.

Creator or billboard? An interview study based on influencers’ participation and impact in a clothing company’s campaign. The purpose of this study is to examine six influencers’ experiences of participating in a clothing company's campaign. The aim is to acquire a deeper understanding of what impact the influencers have in the campaign. The method used is qualitative interviews with six of fifteen influencers who participated in a clothing company's campaign in October 2017. The influencers were given the ability to freely interpret what the company’s lifestyle meant for them by creating movies, pictures and text.  The People’s Choice and two-step flow theory are used to mark the influencers’ impact on their networks, where they are working as opinion leaders. The Theory of Practice gives an understanding for how the influencers are positioning themselves with the company and also contributes with the concept of “social capital”. Trust in today's society shows a world which is changing quickly and the importance for companies to create relationships. Impression management helps with an understanding about the creation of oneself, and branding, identity, image and reputation gives an understanding about the creation of the company. The results are that they are given the opportunity to interpret and put their own interpretations on the company’s campaign even though there are implicit power structures who control the campaign. The influencers get to create freely - as long as they make a material that corresponds with the company's impression management, branding, identity, image and reputation.

Users in social networking sites, such as Facebook, are increasingly receiving friend requests from strangers and accepting strangers as friends. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the Big Five personality traits and strangers' gender in affecting Facebook users' decisions to accept the stranger's friend request by adopting a 2 (gender of the stranger: male vs. female) x 5 (stranger's personality: Neuroticism vs. Extraversion vs. Openness vs. Conscientiousness vs. Agreeableness) factorial design. Results revealed that participants were more likely to accept the stranger's friend request when the participant's and stranger's personalities matched. This effect was more pronounced when the stranger was a female. Participants accepted female stranger's friend request due to the inflated perception of stereotypical female characteristics, which supported the hyperpersonal effect. Majority of the participants accepted the stranger's friend request based on textual cues that were displayed in the friend request message, which supported social information processing theory, suggesting that impression formation of the stranger was not constrained to the lack of nonverbal cues setting.