Reflection On Social Interaction

1. When Mr. Ward forced us to participate in a 20 minuet social interaction activity, to say I was apprehensive at first, was an understatement. I’m one of those people who tend to be alone most of the time, and I like it that way, however, I still had to participate in the activity. So, as I looked at my classmates, I found myself drawn to people like me. I found it easier to connect with people who have similar personality traits, such as introverts, or people who look like me, such as brown/dark skin black women. The reason for this, is because either I saw myself in them or I saw someone who I could easily relate too. While in the past, I have formed great friendships with people, that have different features and personalities from me, I just find it more comforting to find someone similar to me. Even though, this activity was a systematic study involving social life, I still found myself focusing on people who I could most easily relate to, instead of

When first meeting new people, I always make sure to portray myself as authentically as possible. I’m normally nice, polite, but reserved, so my gestures depict that to people, who don’t know me yet. In terms of statuses and roles, I kept in mind the ideas of Erving Goffman and dramaturgy, in which details the changing state of a person’s life and what characteristics take the front and back stage. In order to portray myself in the right way, I put forth my best attributes to the front stage, showing how I have good things about me and a lot going for me. However, I never try to put up a façade and pretend to be this “perfect” person, so I also show some of my not so good characteristics, such as not being a people person, and being kept to myself. I did that in the class activity with my partner, to convey my true self, but also to relate to the new people and build some type of relationship. In terms of statuses and roles, I’ll say that I stay in the middle, neither the front nor back