The performance self is very flexible and adapts to other people. Adapting yourself to other people is sometimes helpful but it is not necessarily a good thing. One of the students interviwed for the book said she had a really good friend who would change her whole personality whenever they were around different people. The student didn’t like that because it was as if she didn’t even know her own friend. It’s like you become more than one person just so others will like you and want to hang out with you. The performance self uses other's work to create their own. The performance self is very indecisive and doesn't think you themselves. The performance self doesn't feel a strong, tight connection with their writing. "Their key concepts are efficacy, nimbleness, comfort, circumstance, ends, goals." (pg.61)
The authentic self tries to be more original and unique. The authentic self is loyal to themselves and to their beliefs. The authentic self's characteristics are unique, authorship, individual contribution, and essence. "Their key concepts are own, genuine, essence, integral, means, undivided." (pg. 61)
The authentic self would not plagiarize as opposed to the performance self who probably would in a necessary situation. One part that was interesting to me was when Blum was talking about college applications and getting in to the college the student really wanted to. She said that if the performance self wanted to get in to a certain college they would do anything, even lie in their application. Like saying a different major knowing they would change it if they got in. The authentic self wouldn't do that.
I don't identify myself completely with one or the other. I think I'm somewhere in between. But I do believe that there are people out there who perfectly fit one or the other.
With the description that Blum gave of the authentic and performance self I agree that the performance self is more prone to cheating and plagiarizing. They don't really mind not being original and feel it is normal to use other peoples work to come up with your own. Also it seems like the performance self just cares about their appearance. Like they'll do anything to have that good appearance and will do anything it takes to get and maintain a good appearance, even if that means cheating. For example in school, the better grades you have, the better the appearance. A performance self would cheat on a test in order to maintain their straight A's. The authentic self wouldn't cheat. The performance self would just get by by cheating and copying and wouldn't learn all the material necessary. In the end it's just cheating themselves but they wouldn't see that. They would just see their good appearance.
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