Your Character Is What You Do When Nobody Is Watching
How would you act if you could get away with almost anything?
According to Psychologists, during our day to day lives, each and everyone one of us navigates two different versions of ourself —
- Our public self is the version we want others to see, so we make a conscious effort to portray ourselves in that way.
- By comparison, our private self reflects the information about ourselves that we don’t want the public to see — so we keep it secret and hidden.
When we assess other peoples character, we often confuse these two versions of “self.” In short, we make snap decisions about other people and who they are based on how they present themselves publicly.
These snap judgements are often unfounded. Because, people tend to create a public self that promotes and aligns with their goals and biases — rather than presenting something that is true to who they are.
Politicians, for example, create a public self designed to appeal to the majority — in order to win over voters.
The public self, therefore, shouldn’t be taken at face value. It reflects very little about us as people — and is often used as a means to deceive others and persuade them we are something we’re not.
