Embarrassment and impression management Research Paper

Embarrassment and impression management - Research Paper Example His view underlined the importance of communication and suggested that identity of a person is no more than a reflection of the image of the self that is communicated to a person through his/her interactions with others. According to Cooley, people see themselves reflected in each others’ eyes and through their communications and interactions with others, gain messages about habits, physical attributes and personal tastes which influences their own judgments and perceptions about self. The control and modulation of the way in which a person chooses to present himself or herself to others is referred to as impression management. Self presentation in the context of impression management has been defined by Jones and Pittman as â€Å"the shaping of† a person’s â€Å"responses to create in specific others an impression that is for one reason or another desired by the actor.† (Jones and Pittman, 1982: 233). Every person therefore controls the kind of impression s/he wants others to gain by controlling what is revealed to others, i.e, the extent of self disclosure. Goffman(1959) supplemented Cooley’s theory about impression management by offering the view that individuals present themselves as a performance, choosing which role to play at any given time. Mets and Grohskopf (2003) have summarized the management of the presentation of the self as â€Å"the process by which individuals, more or less intentionally, construct a public self that is likely to elicit certain types of attributions from others, attributions that would facilitate the achievement of some goal, usually to acquire social rewards or advantages, or to prevent loss of self esteem when future failure seems probable (p 360). As may be noted from the above views, social integration implies a high degree of attunement to others’ perceptions about oneself, when this yields a positive perception there is pride and integration of the individual is promoted, but when the individual seeks a negative reflection/perception of the self as gained from the impressions of others, there is shame and a feeling of alienation, which produced embarrassment. One notable example of embarrassment is politician Sarah Palin, who was the Vice Presidential candidate in the American Pr esidential elections of 2008. During the course of the political canvassing, Palin in a radio interview with Glenn Beck, was asked about how she would handle North Korea and responded that we would have to stand by our North Korean allies. This was yet another in a long history of gaffes, such as for example, unable to demonstrate any understanding of the separation of church and state or name a single Supreme Court case, and her claim that she was qualified to handle foreign policy because she was from Alaska which is close to Russia. In responding to the realization that she had made a serious gaffe, Palin defended herself by going on to Facebook and attacking Obama’s gaffes instead.(Stickings, 2010). It may be noted here that a considerable amount of publicity was devoted

Psychotherapy and Ethical Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Psychotherapy and Ethical Issues - Essay Example It is generally termed as "talking treatment" in which the person who carries the treatment may refer as the therapist and the person being seen is usually referred to as the client. (The Royal College of Psychiatry) Psychotherapy usually involves different sessions of meetings (normally of 50 minutes or more of duration) between the therapist and the client in a quiet room in which the client reveals his worries and anxieties or psychological problems to the therapist and the therapist analyses the problems and find remedies for it. In order to keep the highest standards of professional practice, each Psychotherapist shall enter into agreement to hold and practice a code of ethics. The therapist needs to consider the integrity and welfare of the client when giving tips to overcome the emotional problems. Services are provided to clients within the parameters of informed consent and voluntary participation. When services are extended to individuals or organizations, there has to be a specific contract, which includes information on the nature of the service or intervention offered, the benefits and limitations of the service, frequency, and cost if applicable. This can be provided to the participant (s) before the service begins. Integrity and welfare of the client must be given prominence in the counseling sessio... Here is an example of a young lady, from a conservative third world country, working as a school teacher in Dubai. She was brought up in a highly conservative family had great moral values. Moreover she was the only daughter in her family which prevented her from acquiring a sound personality. Her school life as school teacher in Dubai initially gone well, but after around 3 to 4 months problems began to arise. She was stern in her approaches towards students and never allowed them to take anything easy in their studies. On the other hand, other teachers were more liberal and the students got enough freedom to grow and even to execute malpractices in their subjects. Thus students began to trouble her deliberately and they began to raise complaints about her quiet regularly. The principal and the management were also more liberal in their approach in order to secure good results for the school, thus, to keep their educational business intact. The principal once called her and asked he r to be more liberal in her approach which was a shock to her. She started to develop some emotional problems and finally, had to undergo a psychotherapy treatment.The therapist has initially heard patiently her worries and concerns with respect to her strong belief in morality and ideals. The therapist has realized that she was a person of high integrity and whatever the points raised by her was ethically right. She wanted her students to learn good behavior and practices in their life and she was ready to face any type of hardships to complete her responsibility. The therapist told the client that this world is not intended for