Trying to control what others think of us.
In other words, being two-faced. It’s projecting the image that we think others want to see. It’s doing things we might not normally do, talking in ways we might not normally talk, dressing in ways we can’t stand, and keeping company with people that make us want to go homicidal.
It’s that fakeness at office parties that makes us roll our eyes whenever we think no one is looking, or that awkward pretend conversation about nothing that prompts everyone to grab the nearest alcoholic beverage like a person roaming the Sahara would pound a jug of fresh water.
The ultimate goal: convince those we perceive to have importance to think highly of us. At all costs.