Question about self-representation and Identity?

Question

Can you talk something about self-representation and identity in terms of how they are correlated and constructed.
Thank you.

Hi Mac,
Thank you for your faithful response.
I think self-representation is not necessarily connected with dishonesty, for example, in Cyberspace, in YA :
Without physical presence, everything about identity and identity formation is about a person's self-representation in the cyberspace. Some of the self-representation come from the small paragraph self-description (e.g. in your profile in YA), some of them come form avatar (the image you choose for yourself), some of them come from your Cyber behaviour (i.e. how you behave in YA), some of them come from your points, levels, best answer rate, the shining badge and more.
It is a interesting to see people pure huge amount of time and energy into this "unreal" space. However, when people spend 5 or 6 hours on a daily basis, would this 'unreal' still 'unreal' to the person or the "real" world becomes just another window?
(Turkle, 1996)
Maybe we are all batteries in a huge Matrix
unknowingly ^_^
What do you think? (Edit - chat)

Answer 1

Every time you encounter another person you represent yourself, in how you appear, the tone of voice you use to speak, what you say and how you respond to him/her. That all arises from the self image you have and your knowledge and memories. If one has an assumed identity, say they are acting a role they admire then how honest that role is to the actual identity of the person as represented by his memories can effect his/her moods and sincerity. To have the courage to really know oneself and then knowing, to have the courage to be that person is not very common, I think. Most people try to project an image of themselves that is to their advantage not necessarily the real them. They lie! In short they represent themselves as something other than themselves.

Babies do not do this they are honest; it is a learned attribute. The reason people learn to do this is because a negative comment, look or even a harsh tone of voice by another leads to a sinking, low feeling (the beginnings of depression) and they try to avoid this by projecting an image that will elicit praise or at least kind regards. Our identity is shaped by how we represent ourselves.

These ideas are from introspection and may not be representative of many others. Good luck with your self representation, good mental health, peace and Love!