Impression Management

Impression Management refers to the effort to control the impressions we make on others so that they form a desired view of the situation and us. There have been plenty of times where people have used impression management but most of the time we don't even realize it. I have used impression management on many occasions without realizing it. One particular occasion has been when my old swim teams was shut down, I had to move to a new pool and new swim team. I wasn't really looked forward to it because I was so used to my old pool, I wanted to finish out the rest of my years of swimming there. Moving to this new pool I had no idea what it was going to be like, I felt that everybody was going to hate me or everybody was going to give me dirty looks and just totally ignore me.

That summer day I arrived to the new pool and showing up at the first swim practice of the summer. I had these feelings that everybody was going to think that they were better than me, or they were going to think that I was cocky and that I thought I was better than them.

I continually thought about the way I was going to act when I got there and when I arrived there I was shy and scared cause I wasn't too sure how I was going to be treated. Some people gave me the cold shoulder and others were kind. The pool member accepted me, as I had been there my entire life. I have been a member at this pool for 5 years now and they have become my second family.

Another time I have used impression management was when I started my job at Looney's. I knew I was able to go in there with an attitude and be all stuck up like I knew everything. I had to go in there with a smile on my face and be able to deal with people giving me a look like "oh she is new she doesn't know what she is doing". My first day at Looney's almost everybody came and introduced their selves to me and if they didn't do it the first day they did it the second day. Everyone there was very nice and great attitude towards meeting me and accepted me. It's a great environment to work in because everyone just comes over and talks to you they are friendly.

In both situations I was the person who was new, and didn't really know anybody going into this new environment. As always there are some people who are unwilling to accept someone new. After reading about impression management it has made me realize that this is what a lot of people do in this world.