Chapter Four: Presenting the Self

Public self-consciousness is the awareness that you are constantly being watched by the public. People with high public self-consciousness are usually those who are singled out by a distinguishing factor, such as being the only girl on an all boy football team, or a politician, whose every move is watched by reporters. Those who have more focus placed on them by the public tend to focus on themselves more, more likely to present a specific version of themselves, and they also tend to react badly to rejection (Kenrick, 112-3).

This political cartoon shows Hillary Clinton as having several different "personalities" that she has tried to get across to the public. This is most likely due to her constantly being in the public eye, which would probably lead to a high public self-consciousness. A person who has high public self-consciousness, a person like Clinton, would want to come across positively to many different groups of people. And as the cartoon points out, it may seem as if she actually has too many personalities.

This is also a good example of how she is self-monitoring because it shows how she is constantly trying to impress as many people in the public as possible, changing her behavior to fit different situations. Many politicians do this, especially when they want to appeal to the general public, which tends to be a diverse group of people. The act of constantly molding yourself into a different person for the benefit of the public would probably lead to social anxiety to the extent that Clinton most likely feels the pressure of constantly wanting to make a good impression on others.




The multiple audience dilemma occurs when a person has to present two different sides of them self or two different arguments to two different sets of people. Many people try to make it appear as if their views fit somewhere in the middle between the two opposing arguments, but others just try to separate the audiences so they do not have to. This is obviously done to try to get both sides to see that you agree with them, in hopes of winning their support (Kenrick, 124).

This political ad by Senator John McCain shows how Governor Mitt Romney was faced with a possible multiple audience dilemma throughout his years as a politician. When Romney was Governor of Massachusetts, he had to "act" less like a conservative so as not to anger his more liberal constituents. But when he was running for President in 2008, Romney "acted" more like a conservative, to win over more of his targeted base. Romney was trying to impress two different groups of people to win over votes and gain the publics' support, and McCain shows this multiple audience dilemma in this ad.

This ad is also another example of the fundamental attribution error. John McCain, like Romney, also "flip-flopped" on some issues. But instead of seeing Romney's flips as situational (as he most likely saw his own), he saw them as reflective of Romney's disposition.