Reflections in the Facebook Mirror (Ball), In Defense of Masks (Gergen) - Essay Example

ple to reveal their personalities through their decryptions regarding their political and religious views for example (Lee, New York Times 26 June 2010). Gergen asserts that although Polonius has good intentions, and that his advice falls under society’s accepted religious and moral code of behavior, his intentions are based on bad psychology (Gergen p.172). Kenneth Gergen disputes classical psychology that human beings are capable of relying on one basic form of self to which they can remain truthful to.

He alludes to Shakespeare’s Hamlet play. In the play, Polonius advises his son Laertes, to remain true to himself and as a result, his son would not be in crisis with other people There have been a wide range of opinions on the use of masks in the social context, with others impressed while others are irritated by the notion. Erik Erikson, a prominent father of thinking in psychology, was of the opinion that human beings are imposed on masks by the society, which results in them feeling alienated and depressed.

Erik Erikson suggests that as grownups, people are phased with challenges throughout the 8 stages of life-trust mistrust, autonomy v shame and doubt, initiative v guilt, industry v inferiority, role confusion v ego/identity, intimacy v isolation, self-absorption v generativity, integrity v despair. For example, during the intimacy v isolation stage, parents begin to put pressure on their children to get married and some people enter marriages out of obligation or to confer to the social norms of society (mask) and they experience feelings of depression and alienation as a result.

He is critical of the above criteria citing the fact that human beings are usually unable to develop a coherent sense of identity and those that try to do so, invariably develop in most instances, adverse emotional effects. Gergen together with the help of his colleagues, attempted to challenge this belief by conducting a series of studies with the purpose of discovering