Description

The Impression Management Styles Scale (IMS), also referred to as AQ-22, is an assessment instrument designed to measure the strategies individuals use to manage the impressions they create in social and professional settings.

Impression management refers to the conscious or less conscious efforts individuals make to influence how they are perceived by others. These strategies may involve highlighting positive characteristics, adapting behavior to different social situations, or presenting oneself in ways that support a desired personal or professional image.

The IMS provides a structured framework for examining how individuals manage self-presentation across different interpersonal contexts.

Purpose

The main purpose of the scale is to assess the type and intensity of impression-management strategies used by individuals.

Through this assessment, the scale may help clarify how self-presentation is related to social interaction, professional behavior, social acceptance, and the maintenance of a desired public image.

The findings may also contribute to a better understanding of individual differences in self-presentation, social adaptation, and communication style.

Structure of the Scale

The IMS or AQ-22 typically consists of 22 items that examine different forms of impression management.

The main dimensions described are:

Extraversion: the tendency to display positive personal characteristics, appear socially active, and maintain a favorable presence in interpersonal situations.

Self-Promotion: the tendency to enhance one’s personal image by emphasizing achievements, abilities, or other characteristics considered socially desirable.

Adaptation: the ability to modify behavior or self-presentation according to the social context in order to maintain a favorable image.

These dimensions allow different self-presentation strategies to be examined separately rather than treating impression management as a single undifferentiated construct.

Analysis

Analysis of the IMS focuses on the extent to which individuals use different impression-management strategies.

Separate scores may be used to create a self-presentation profile, highlighting which strategies are used most frequently and how strongly each strategy is expressed.

Scores may also be examined in relation to other variables such as social adjustment, self-esteem, professional behavior, social acceptance, and interpersonal skills.

Administration and Scoring

Participants respond to the individual statements on the basis of their own experiences and their typical behavior in social or professional situations.

Scoring may be based on a graded response scale, depending on the specific version of the IMS being administered. Scores may be interpreted either overall or separately for each dimension.

The source material does not specify a particular Likert response format, total score range, or cut-off points. Therefore, the exact scoring procedure should follow the instructions of the specific version of the instrument being used.

Interpretation

Higher scores on a particular dimension indicate more frequent or stronger use of the corresponding impression-management strategy.

For example, a higher score on self-promotion may reflect a stronger tendency to emphasize personal strengths or accomplishments, whereas a higher adaptation score may indicate greater flexibility in adjusting behavior to different social situations.

Scores should not automatically be interpreted as either “positive” or “negative,” since the effectiveness of a particular strategy depends on the context and the extent to which it is used.

Uses and Applications

The IMS may be used in several settings.

In education, it may support programs aimed at developing social and professional skills.

In counseling, it may help individuals understand the ways in which they present themselves and the strategies they use in interpersonal relationships.

In research, it may be used to examine associations between impression management and variables such as personality, social acceptance, leadership, organizational behavior, and career development.

In professional contexts, impression-management research may also contribute to understanding behavior in job interviews, performance evaluations, leadership relationships, and workplace interactions.

Theoretical Background

The concept of impression management has deep roots in social psychology. Goffman emphasized social interaction as a process of self-presentation, while later theories examined the specific strategies individuals use to influence how others perceive them.

Jones and Pittman contributed to the systematic classification of strategic self-presentation, while Leary and Kowalski proposed a two-component model linking impression-management motivation with the process of constructing a desired public image.

References

Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Anchor Books.

Jones, E. E., & Pittman, T. S. (1982). Toward a theory of strategic self-presentation. In J. Suls & A. G. Greenwald (Eds.), Psychological Perspectives on the Self (Vol. 1, pp. 231–261). Erlbaum.

Leary, M. R., & Kowalski, R. M. (1990). Impression management: A literature review and two-component model. Psychological Bulletin, 107(1), 34–47.

Schlenker, B. R. (1980). Impression Management: The Self-Concept, Social Identity, and Interpersonal Relations. Brooks/Cole.