The first few days of Survivor have always been the most important in my opinion. That is when relationships form, and ultimately Survivor is a game of relationships.
A lot of these relationships can either begin or fail to begin with the initial impressions people get of one another.
In discovering what sociologists have said in terms of first impressions, I came across one of the most prominent sociologists of all time, and the man who was labeled as the most "influential sociologists of the 20th century." Erving Goffman wrote a book called "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life."
This book pushed forward the concept of dramaturgy. Basically, Goffman pushed "theatre" as the metaphor for how we conduct our daily lives. In dramaturgical sociology it is argued that human interactions are dependent upon time, place, and audience. In other words, to Goffman, who we are or become is a dramatic effect emerging from the immediate scene being presented.
If say, a girl with crazy hair and hippie clothes introduces herself to me, I might take elements of the impression I have gathered from her and morph my follow up comments so that they are "cool" or "agreeable" with how I have interpreted her to be.
Goffman claims that human beings choose how to present themselves to another based on cultural values, norms,
and beliefs or the perceived ones.. The goal of this presentation of self is
acceptance from the audience through carefully conducted performance.
If the actor succeeds, the audience will view the actor as he or she
wants to be viewed.
In the case of everyday life, the "audience" is the person we are interacting with.
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