Sociological Observation

My friend and I live in two different apartments in the same apartment complex off campus so we both have the same landlord. The other day, he asked me to go to the landlord’s office with him because he was having an issue with his apartment. As I watched his interaction with the landlord and when I reflexed on it from a sociological standpoint, I found it to be very interesting.

My friend and I are very close friends and I know my friend very well. As soon as we walked into the landlord’s office, I noticed that his entire demeanor changed. He went from relaxed and slouching (as we were walking to the office) to serious and standing upright. I even noticed that the way he spoke changed when he was speaking to our landlord in comparison to speaking with me. Not only
He greeted her with a handshake and a smile whereas he greeted me earlier with a head-nod and a “what’s up”. Overall, I noticed that he was much more professional when speaking to her than when speaking to a peer (such as myself). I thought that my friend behaved in his manner in order to perform impression management. He didn’t act as (what I could call) his normal self in order to leave an impression that he is a good tenant and serious young adult that is able to conduct business and handle any situation. Impression management is defined a conscious or subconscious process in which people attempt to influence the perceptions of other people about a person, object or event. They do so by regulating and controlling information in social interaction. My friend without thought (subconsciously) changed his behavior in order to appear