Examine the tactics we use, both positive and negative, to manage other people’s impressions and to achieve our goals, in this illuminating course taught by a professor of psychology.
Your Public Persona: Self-Presentation in Everyday Life is rated
2.9 out of
5 by
19.
Rated 1 out of
5 by
fld315 from
Dull and uninformativeThere was surprisingly little interesting or useful information in this course. It would be 90 percent shorter if the professor cut out the obvious stuff. I get it: We care what people think of us in many aspects of our lives - our work, home, family, friends etc. Tell me something I didn't know. The course is packed with passages like this: "A certain amount of self-presentation is essential anytime a person applies for a job. Applicants who don't care what impression they make on their resume, on the application or in the interview, aren't very likely to be hired. Of course everybody tries to put their best foot forward by presenting their education, abilities and experience in ways that highlight their qualifications to an employer." Wow - I had no idea.
Or this passage on self-presentation at work: "Most people dress a particular way to go to work. Of course, some employers have expectations about how their employees should dress. And some organizations have explicit dress codes or require their employees to wear uniforms. And those corporate decisions about what employees should wear are certainly affected by a desire for the employee and the company to make certain impressions on customers, clients and the public in general." Such passages follow one after the other. There are occasional interesting observations, for example, in his discussion of the evolutionary roots of our excessive concern about what other people think of us or the social value of visible embarrassment. But I've listened to dozens of courses from this company, and I've never encountered one so padded with trite, obvious observations.
Date published: 2020-10-09
Rated 1 out of
5 by
EngineerinVA from
NoPeople tend to behave in a way calculated to get them what they want. Having said that, there is now no need to watch this course. It adds little or nothing to that statement.
The lectures are in generalities. There is little take-away to benefit the student. Also, the presentation is rather pedestrian. For example, there are few visual aids.
Date published: 2020-10-08
Rated 4 out of
5 by
Eugene B from
Great overview of how we present ourselves public.I have been watching and listening to The Great Courses series since the days I had to check them out from the local library. The audio books would be on dozens of cassette tapes. They typically offer insight on the career work of great professors. They appear to be attempts by exceptional professors to explain, in lay terms, their work. They are great courses. However, they are not college courses. There are no homework assignments or exams. No college credits. It is important to keep this perspective when watching these courses.
I enjoyed Professor Leary's presentation. Great insight on the value and mechanisms of Self-Presentation. It was also a good review as, for my generation, John T. Malloys "Dress for Success" was required reading for those entering a new career. I enjoyed this series. Keep up the good work professor Leary.
Date published: 2020-10-02
Rated 5 out of
5 by
dpil from
Excellent Course!!!!If you like Dr Leary's course on Human Personality then you would love this one. Though this is specialized he discusses many of the personalities from course mentioned. I like the fact that he spent his career studying this one discipline. There are many masks we put on and he discusses the many complexities behind why we do this. He held my interest and I saw myself in many of his examples. I really liked his discussion on the social anxieties. I wish to hear more on abnormal psychology. He would be ideal for this. I highly recommend this course.
Date published: 2020-09-30
Rated 5 out of
5 by
leaner2020 from
Good courseIn my humble opinion, this course gives me deeper insights in human behaviors. Thanks !
Date published: 2020-09-26
Rated 1 out of
5 by
Intelligent Boy from
Highly Constipated CourseDid not learn anything from this course. Can't understand how did The Great Courses approve it, Professor also did not give us any tips. Rubbish course. My rating is -5
Date published: 2020-09-22
Rated 1 out of
5 by
Freja from
DisappointedThis is the first course I've purchased. Because the instructor was a professor at Duke, I expected a college-level course. I expected to be surprised and entertained by novel studies in neurobiology and psychology. The content did not match my expectations. I found it to be obvious, redundant, and dry.
Date published: 2020-09-21
Rated 5 out of
5 by
MLAERA from
Great courseReally great course. I strongly admire the professor and his great presentational skills. Comprehensive and comprehensible. Now I can much better understand many aspects of human behavior.
Date published: 2020-09-18
Rated 1 out of
5 by
gjmboulard from
Boring, pedantic, condescending.Nothing that most young 20s wouldn't know. Endless flailing of hands-nearly no comprehension of public speaking skills, much less persuasion or teaching.
How pathetic-I can remember when this company offered high quality programs,
instead of media junk.
Examine the tactics we use, both positive and negative, to manage other people’s impressions and to achieve our goals, in this illuminating course taught by a professor of psychology.
Most of the important things that happen in life involve our encounters and relationships with other people. I became interested in scientific psychology to help us understand both ourselves and the people with whom we interact.
ALMA MATER
University of Florida
INSTITUTION
Duke University
About Mark Leary
Professor Mark Leary is Garonzik Family Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, where he heads the program in Social Psychology and is faculty director of the Duke Interdisciplinary Initiative in Social Psychology. He earned his bachelor's degree in Psychology from West Virginia Wesleyan College and his master's and doctoral degrees in Social Psychology from the University of Florida. He has taught previously at Denison University, The University of Texas at Austin, and Wake Forest University, where he served as department chair. Professor Leary has published 12 books and more than 200 scholarly chapters and articles on topics dealing with social motivation and emotion and the negative effects of excessive egotism and self-focus. He has been particularly interested in the ways in which people's emotions, behaviors, and self-views are influenced by their concerns with other people's perceptions and evaluations of them. Professor Leary's books include Social Anxiety; Self-Presentation: Impression Management and Interpersonal Behavior; The Curse of the Self: Self-Awareness, Egotism, and the Quality of Human Life; Handbook of Self and Identity; and Introduction to Behavioral Research Methods. Based on his scholarly contributions, the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin designated him among the top 40 social and personality psychologists in the world with the greatest impact. In 2010, he received the Lifetime Career Award from the International Society for Self and Identity. In addition, he was the founding editor of the journal Self and Identity and is currently the editor of Personality and Social Psychology Review. He is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.
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