Sunday, October 2, 2011

Which 'you' is the real you?





I've been pondering a lot about absolutely nothing sometimes. I blame my dreams though. Oh, to start off with something entirely irrelevant to the current subject at hand, yes.. I do have a job now. I just got lucky though, I guess. Currently working retail yet again, but I'm not going to complain since I at least have a job. Anyways..

Have you always thought that your 'you', as in your current self have multiple personas or personalities? The terminology persona refers to a 'social mask' that a person uses in order to fit in or associate his or herself with people. Because we're human, we learn to instinctively hide who we really are and use a social mask in order to fit in and make sure that our output of communication is understandable to another person or group. 

In Psychology, we've all learned that we have to act this way so that we fit our social roles. In example, let's say "X" person goes to college, goes to work, as well as being the son of <insert family name here>. That individual has to conform or adhere to certain social boundaries, such as being respectful to his parents, or knowing when to be a friend. You can't be your parents' friend, right? You can't be overly respectful to your friends and treat them like they're your parents, right? I certainly would hope not.

Here's where I get a bit lost, if  you hide behind several personas, how do you decide which is the real you? Can you determine which is persona is more truthful to yourself? I realize these are rather bizarre questions I ask myself as well as my blog followers, but it's been something that I can't seem to exactly nail down.

Here's an example.. say you're at work, and you're an otaku. You purposely act like you're a normal everyday person, hiding everything about your hobbies to your co-workers. You act like you love drinking and stuff, while you really couldn't care less. While online, or near your social-cliche, you prefer to discuss about things that are obviously relevant to your interests (pertaining to otaku culture). In school, you act like a normal everyday student and conform to the school's rules, so that you can work with people and not feel like a deviant of social standards. 

Are you able to distinct which is the real 'you'? If so, how? I sort of know the answer to my own questions, and it's not really anything pertaining to Multiple Personality Disorder, it's just a fact of life and a question that I don't think can be understood in less than a day. 

2 comments:

  1. It's as if we act a certain way in order to blend or fit in with the crowd. At school, I don't really talk about my hobbies either or I stick to "oh my hobby is writing" as if I were embarrased to say anime or something. My personality changes according to who I interact with also. I'd rather talk about things with people I know for sure have something in common with me, you know. But that's just me. Besides I don't think a personality is a simple trait, it's very much complex. We are living changing creatures and nothing about always stays the same. Not even our personality. Great post!

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  2. Thanks! Yeah, a personality can be rather complex. I think I might have thought a bit too hard into all of this, and I'm glad someone commented on this, actually!

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