Personality traits and self-presentation tactics

Abstract

Self-presentation is an omnipresent form of behaviour that involves building a self-image in front of other people. This form of behaviour aims at structuring the impression of a person. Self-presentation explains numerous social relations and situations, but it also depends on numerous factors, primarily personality factors, as well as a number of situational factors. The main goal of this research is to examine the relationship between broad personality dimensions, operationalized by the Big Five + 2 personality model (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Aggression, Conscientiousness, Openness, Positive Valence and Negative Valence) and self-presentation. The possibility of predicting self-presentation in total, as well as some of its individual tactics, based on broad personality dimensions, is also examined. The survey uses the Big Five + 2 Personality Questionnaire and the Self-Presentation Tactics Scale. The sample included 526 respondents, average age 21.6 years (SD=2.88). Of all the examined personality dimensions, Neuroticism and Negative Self-Image have the strongest correlations with overall self-presentation. The Conscientiousness dimension records the highest number of negative correlations, while the Openness dimension records the lowest number of statistically significant correlations with the overall self-presentation and individual self-presentation tactics. As for the prediction of self-presentation, all dimensions of personality, except Openness, are important predictors, but their constellation is different in relation to the content of self-presentation tactics. The obtained findings make it possible to predict the direction of the presentation of self-image. Namely, knowing the personality traits, we can assume which self-presentation tactics will be used, especially in a situation when people are motivated to do so.