User talk:Lynsbrow/sandbox

Identity Management Theory is a recent idea that was proposed in the 1990's. Cupach and Imahori based this theory on a book from the 1960's. The book, Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face behavior, should be further expanded in order to understand the theory it was based on. Interestingly, Cupach and Imahori separate two types of communication; intercultural and intraculteral. Both these communication subgroups will be further researched in order to see the basis for this theory. Also, identities will be expanded on to fully grasp what Identity Management Theory is about. Erving Goffman is an author who helped the originators of IMT base their theory off of. Goffman was a well-known sociologist and writer. It makes sense that the IMT mentions his contribution, since he is the most cited sociologist from his writings because of what he studied in communication Goffman Wikipedia Site. Among the six essays that make up Goffman's book, the first essay shows an individual's self image while communicating. The author explained that the self-image that is obtained during interacting is not permanent and has a large social influence. The image someone gets in a social setting is than expected for the future. The risk of changing self-image in a social context will alter how the individual feels about oneself. The author was implying that often times the defense mechanism is to retract from showing your self to much in a social setting so others do not see them in a displeasing way. The idea of the Identity Management Theory uses the ideas by Goffman to help establish what the idea behind the theory is trying to get at. Intercultural verse intracultural communication varies significantly. Intercultural communication is based on a much greater scheme of things. This type of communication refers to a group of people that differ in backgrounds, whether that is religion, ethnic, education, or social backgrounds. Intercultural communication looks at how the world is viewed, how messages are interpreted,and how differing cultures react to situations [Communication ]. On the contrary, intracultural communication discusses how people of the same background interact with one another. I thought it was interesting that there was not a Wikipedia page discussing this concept. It is very important to compare and contrast the opposite of intercultural communication to understand the similarities and differences. With little research done on intracultural communication, I am unable to correlate the two types of communication. The last concept to expand on is identity. Identity is directly connected with the Identity Management Theory since it helps define what this theory is trying to explain. Even though identity is a very broad topic, I will discuss personal identity through the lens of the individual, which will than effect its social identity. Identity is said to be the "distinct personality of an individual" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_%28social_science%29. It is interesting to hear that identity is both the identity one holds of themselves. Also, identity is the perception that someone holds in a social setting. Identity can be broken down even more by distinguishing specific characteristics within each individual and in different social setting. I am in awe that identity is not consistent and may be constantly changing. Each of the three concepts that were looked at will help expand on the Identity Management Theory. Each of these ideas directly correlate with the theory and will be useful in explaining this theory. Lynsbrow (talk) 05:07, 3 April 2013 (UTC)