system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Is there really a real us?

People often say that the real us shows when we are alone or with a certain group of people. Is this true? Is there a real us? Or are we more complex and have various versions of ourselves based on who we are around?
gpt
Sociological social psychology (by way of Symbolic Interactionism - Charon, 2007 & Blumer, 1986) would argue that to say any person has an "true," "core" identity is a misnomer at least in some degree. Every person is a collection of different identities and traits that get used in particular moments of time. Burke & Stets' "Identity Theory" (don't have year on me) argues this as well. That type of analysis would indicate your last statement is true. 

&#x200B;

Goffman (1959) would argue it slightly differently, through his discussion of frames. In terms of "Front Stage" and "Back Stage" encounters, we could argue that an individual is able to act more "loosely" in a back stage encounter, and so we would like to assume immediately that such a person is doing less of a performance. An extension of this would be that a waiter/waitress at a restaurant acts one way in the "front of the house" with a customer, but then can curse them behind closed doors in the kitchen, in "the back." Does that mean that the person is "real" in the back? The problem is that they are aware of the reflexive nature of their situation - they want others to know what type of "real" person they are and push forward a particular impression of that (called impression management). The thing is, if we're perfectly alone in a physical sense, we are still social in our minds. Why would a teenager put up posters of their favorite rock bands in their rooms if they don't expect company? They're playing up a personal representation of self FOR THEMSELVES - so that they are better prepared when encountering people in later situations.