My boyfriend, Jim Halpern- Assignment 7

Mike’s facebook picture is the epitome of who he is. In it, he is wearing an oversized suit coat he purchased from the Salvation Army with a tie haphazardly hanging from his white dress shirt. His legs are spread apart, and he is slouching, in true Jim Halpern from The Office, form. He is gazing upwards, or off in space, and his hands are clasped, trying to give the allusion that he is somewhat put together, or just content with his lackadaisical appearance. Mike LaLonde, to the “t”.

Using the Brunswikian Lens Model, Mike’s facebook profile truly reflects his personality. The cue validity throughout his profile, leads to an internal, accurate characterization, while the cue utilization (cues we use), lead to very similar impressions.

Through the four mechanisms that link individuals to the environment, Mike establishes personal and other identity, in addition to interior and exterior behavior residue. Self-directed identity claims remind us who we are as individuals. In Mike’s facebook profile he has several inside jokes with himself and unique people. In his interests, for example, Mike includes “the question game,” a silly thing Mike and I do together where we can only ask each other questions until someone loses or accidentally says something not in question form. While some people might view this insertion as an indication that Mike is sarcastic and funny, it actually holds some inward meaning for him, beyond what a casual viewer might interpret.

In other-directed identity claims, Mike utilizes the “relationship status” as an indicator of who he is to the facebook community and who I am. Because Mike and I are dating, Mike thought it would be a good idea to include the “In a relationship” answer, as a public announcement. I was quite content with leaving it blank, but Mike persevered and convinced me that “otherwise people might hit on me and have an excuse.”

As far as interior behavioral residue, Mike has removed the newsfeed from his features, so it is hard to track all his facebook routines. However, one can tell what quizzes he’s taken recently on facebook and changes he has made to his fantasy football squad. Mike also has included quotes from the show, the Office on his facebook account, so one can view whenever he changes those. Because Mike has eliminated his normal facebook feed, one can assume that he is slightly introverted, or private. This assumption would be totally validated and accurate.

Finally, Mike’s exterior behavioral residue is evident through his “about me” section. Here is lists the activities he is involved in, such as intramural soccer and habitat for humanity. However, because Mike has a slightly sarcastic tone throughout his profile, it would be difficult to judge whether Mike is trustworthy with those claims or not. The connotations of his previous statements could lead to the impression that Mike is slightly disagreeable and negative. In addition, the idea that Mike is introverted would be affirmed again because there are no pictures of him, other than his one profile picture (and previous profile pictures). One can also tell that Mike is an avid watcher and fan of The Office, through his exterior behavior residue.

Throughout Mike’s profile and using the Brunswikian Model, one can conclude that Mike’s personality is slightly negative, and that he is an introvert. In those assessments, one would be correct (according to me…). One could also claim (using Hawthorne’s big 5 traits) that Mike is slightly neurotic, because of his extreme (for the facebook community) need of privacy, and constant use of sarcasm and cynicism throughout the text of his profile.