Dramaturgical Self-Presentation
every room is a stage and you're already in costume
Grounded in the research on Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1956); Wikipedia: Dramaturgy (sociology)
the move
Dramaturgical self-presentation is the idea that you don't just have a self, you perform one. Every interaction is theater: you pick a costume, a script, a tone, and you adjust it based on who's watching. Your 'in class' self, your 'with parents' self, your 'group chat' self. Same actor, different shows. You're doing this right now and you didn't notice.
the origin
Sociologist Erving Goffman built this in his 1956 book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. He literally borrowed the language of theater: actors, audiences, scripts, props, staging. His claim was strong but holds up: identity isn't a fixed thing inside you, it's something you produce in front of others, moment to moment. Not fake. Just managed.