Impression management

Impression management is a concept in sociology. It describes how everyday people control the way that they appear to others. For example, in each interaction, a person selects certain gestures, speech patterns, or expressions of femininity, masculinity, social class, and cultural interest. This allows a person to show a particular image to others about who they want to be and how they want to be seen.

When gesturing, a person might use reserved and minimal movements in a professional setting, whilst they may smile widely and wave about when with friends.

A person might also change their speech pattern in a professional setting in order to sound more educated or refined, and may speak more casually or use swear words when in a casual setting.

Men and women often control how they are perceived in terms of masculinity or femininity. Boys and men might sometimes make their voices sound deeper. They might also speak in short sentences to reflect an old stereotype that males are unfeeling and unconcerned with self-expression. Women, on the other hand, might feel the need to speak in line with the speech patterns of their peers, and this may include tacking on culturally specific phrases like "or whatever" and "that's hot/cute" to indicate they identify with the female gender and traditional interests.

These of course are very simple ideas about what it means to be a man or woman. In contemporary life the border between male and female is sometimes becoming less strict. In Western societies psychologists support that people who show alternative gender expression are still medically normal.

People also provide clues about their social class and culture by talking about what kind of music they are interested in, what kind of movies they like to watch, and what kind of places they like to visit.

For example, in contemporary youth culture, young people often listen to and discuss "indie" alternative or independent music as opposed to pop or popular music. A person who wants to portray themselves as cultured might say they like watching highbrow French films or award-winning movies, instead of a mass-media production like a Disney movie.