Abstract

Psychological studies in social perception (named also person perception, or interpersonal cognition) are reviewed in the paper. Special interest is given to social perception in electronic — computer and Internet mediated- interaction, first of all in social networking. Construction of self-presentations is listed among the main psychological mechanisms of social perception management. It is shown that networkers often develop multiple and alternative self-presentations which include verbal as well as visual and audio materials. Self-presentations form the basis for network identities, or virtual identities; networkers often experiment (play, in their own words) with their identities by changing elements of self-presentations. The paper proceeds to empirical exposure of differences between real-life and electronic identities.