Interpersonal Communication- A Mindful Approach to Relationships, 2020a

Entitlements and Enhancements
The fourth type of impression management tactic is the use of entitlements and enhancements.
Entitlements and enhancements are “designed to explain a desirable event in a way that maximizes the
desirable implications for the actor.” 29 Primarily, “entitlements are designed to maximize an actor’s
apparent responsibility for an event; enhancements are designed to maximize the favorability of an event
itself.” 30 In this case, the goal is to make one’s self look even better than maybe they actually are.
For our examples, let’s look at entitlements and enhancements separately. For an example of an
entitlement, imagine that you’re talking to a new peer in class and they tell you about how they singlehandedly
organized a wildly popular concert that happened over the weekend. In this case, the individual
is trying to maximize their responsibility for the party in an effort to look good.
For an example of an enhancement, imagine that in the same scenario, the individual talks less about
how they did the event single-handedly and talks more about how amazing the event itself was. In this
case, they’re aligning themselves with the event, so the more amazing the event looks, the better you’ll
perceive them as an individual.
Flattery
The fifth impression management tactic is the use of flattery, or the use of compliments to get the other
person to like you more. In this case, there is a belief that if you flatter someone, they will see you in
a better light. Imagine there’s a new player on your basketball team. Almost immediately, they start
complimenting you on your form and how they wish they could be as good as you are. In this case, the
person may be completely honest, but the use of flattery will probably get you to see that person more
positively as well.
Favors
The last tactic that researches have described for impression management is favors. Favors “involve doing
something nice for someone to gain that person’s approval.” 31 One way that we get others to like us is to
do things for them. If we want our peers in class to like us, then maybe we’ll share our notes with them
when they’re absent. We could also volunteer to let someone use our washer and dryer if they don’t have
one. There are all kinds of favors that we can do for others. Although most of us don’t think of favors as
tactics for managing how people perceive us, they have an end result that does.
In 1973, Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor were interested in discovering how individuals become closer
to each other. 32 They believed that the method of self-disclosure was similar to social penetration and
hence created the . This theory helps to explain how individuals gradually
become more intimate based on their communication behaviors. According to the social penetration
theory, relationships begin when individuals share non-intimate layers and move to more intimate layers
of personal information. 33
Altman and Taylor believed that individuals discover more about others through self-disclosure. How
people comprehend others on a deeper level helps us also gain a better understanding of ourselves. The
researchers believe that penetration happens gradually. The scholars describe their theory visually like
an onion with many rings or levels. 34 A person’s personality is like an onion because it has many layers
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Interpersonal Communication