Editing Persona

{{short description|Public image of one's personality}}
{{About|the concept|other uses|Persona (disambiguation)}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2020}}

A '''persona''' (plural '''personae''' or '''personas''') is a strategic mask of identity in public,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Marshall |first1=P. David |last2=Barbour |first2=Kim |date=2015-04-30 |title=Making Intellectual Room for Persona Studies: A New Consciousness and a Shifted Perspective |url=https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/ps/article/view/464 |journal=Persona Studies |language=en |volume=1 |issue=1 |doi=10.21153/ps2015vol1no1art464 |issn=2205-5258|hdl=10536/DRO/DU:30072974 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> the public image of one's [[personality]], the social [[role]] that one adopts, or simply a fictional [[Character (arts)|character]].<ref>[[mwod:persona|"Persona"]], ''[[Merriam-Webster.com]]'', Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2020.</ref> It is also considered "an intermediary between the individual and the institution."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bosch |first=Mineke |date=January 2013 |title=Persona and the Performance of Identity Parallel Developments in the Biographical Historiography of Science and Gender, and the Related Uses of Self Narrative |url=http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/lhomme.2013.24.issue-2/lhomme.2013.24.2.11/lhomme.2013.24.2.11.xml |journal=L'Homme |volume=24 |issue=2 |doi=10.7767/lhomme.2013.24.2.11 |s2cid=148183584 |issn=2194-5071 |access-date=2023-05-01 |archive-date=2018-07-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702095416/https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/lhomme.2013.24.issue-2/lhomme.2013.24.2.11/lhomme.2013.24.2.11.xml |url-status=dead |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Persona studies is an academic field developed by communication and media scholars.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Persona Studies |url=https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/ps/index |access-date=2023-04-23 |website=ojs.deakin.edu.au}}</ref> The related notions of "impression management" and "presentation of self" have been discussed by Erving Goffman<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goffman |first=Erving |title=The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life |publisher=University of Edinburgh |year=1956 |isbn= |pages= 132ff}}</ref> in the 1950s. 

The word ''persona'' derives from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical [[mask]].<ref name="Bishop2007">{{cite book |last=Bishop |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FUthjkCD6JgC&pg=PA157 |title=Analytical Psychology and German Classical Aesthetics: Goethe, Schiller, and Jung, Volume 1: The Development of the Personality |date=July 30, 2007 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-203-96088-2 |pages=157–158 |access-date=August 27, 2013}}</ref> The usage of the word dates back to the beginnings of Latin civilization.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/11523564 |title=The Category of the person : anthropology, philosophy, history |date=1985 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |others=Michael Carrithers, Steven Collins, Steven Lukes |isbn=0-521-25909-6 |location=Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] |oclc=11523564}}</ref> The Latin word derived from the [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] word "{{Lang|ett|phersu}}," with the same meaning, and that from the Greek {{Lang|el|[[Prosopon|πρόσωπον]]|italic=no}} (''{{Lang|el-latn|prosōpon}}'').<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Etruscan Phersu - phersuminiatures |url=https://sites.google.com/site/phersuminiatures/galleries/the-etruscan-phersu |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=sites.google.com}}</ref> It is the etymology of the word "person," or "parson" in French.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Person, n. |url=https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/141476#eid30948551 |website=Oxford English Dictionary}}</ref> Latin etymologists explain that persona comes from "per/sonare" as "the mask through which (per) resounds the voice (of the actor)."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mouss |first=Marcel |title=Category of the Person |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1985 |pages=14}}</ref>

Its meaning in the latter Roman period changed to indicate a "character" of a [[theatrical]] performance or [[court of law]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Horsman |first1=Yasco |last2=Korsten |first2=Frans-Willem |date=2016-09-01 |title=Introduction: Legal Bodies: Corpus/Persona/Communitas |journal=Law & Literature |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=277–285 |doi=10.1080/1535685X.2016.1232924 |issn=1535-685X|doi-access=free }}</ref> when it became apparent that different individuals could assume the same role and that legal attributes such as rights, powers, and duties followed the role. The same individuals as actors could play different roles, each with its own legal attributes, sometimes even in the same court appearance.

==In psychology==
{{main|Persona (psychology)}}
According to [[Carl Jung]] and the [[Jungian psychology]], the persona is also the mask or appearance one presents to the world.<ref>{{cite book |author=Jung, Carl Gustav |url=https://archive.org/details/mysteriumconiunc14jung |title=Two Essays on Analytical Psychology |date=1967 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-0-691-09776-3 |series=Collected Works of C.G. Jung |volume=7 |author-link=Carl Jung}}</ref> It may appear in [[dream]]s under various guises. People may choose to wear a social mask or use a persona to make themselves appear more socially desirable. This is used to impress potential partners or to make new friends.<ref name="auto">{{cite journal |author= Leary, Mark R. |author-link= Mark Leary |date= October 19, 2011 |title= Personality and persona: personality processes in self presentation |journal= Journal of Personality |volume=79 |issue= 6 |pages= 1191–1218 |doi= 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00704.x |pmid= 21204836 }}</ref> People can have multiple personas that they use in various situations; this can include work, being with friends, at home, etc. Depending on the individual's circumstance, a persona which they consider stronger within their specific social situation can be created because they put a higher emphasis on social interactions. Jung warned about using personas too much, fearing that one might lose their own individuality to their persona. A study has shown that this can be true to an extent; when taking a private self-rating test, there is a high correlation between how a person rates themselves and how they present themselves in public. It is difficult to tell if people are accurately filling out the test or answering what they find desirable.<ref name="auto" />

In a study written by [[Danielle Jackson]], she argues that a person's persona can range in healthiness. The more healthy a persona is, the more socially acceptable and consistent that person remains. However, once a person starts to believe they are their persona, it can have adverse effects on their personality.<ref name="auto1">{{cite book |author= Jackson, Danielle | date=2017 |title= Persona of Anime: A Depth Psychological Approach to the Persona and Individuation | id={{ProQuest|1964903170}} }}</ref> [[James Hillman]] believed that once a person loses their identity to a persona, they become an [[archetypal]] figure. By losing their "ego", their persona becomes their personality in an archetypal form. However, when this occurs, the person becomes unstable and they are unable to act outside their formed persona.<ref name="auto1"/>

==In literature==
{{more citations needed section|date=February 2020}}

In [[literature]], the term generally refers to a character established by an author, one in whose voice all or part of a narrative takes place. Poets such as [[Robert Browning]], [[Ezra Pound]], and [[T. S. Eliot]] are strongly associated with such narrative voices, as is the writer [[Luigi Pirandello]]. These writers understood the term slightly differently and derived its use and meaning from different traditions. Examples of Eliot's personae were "[[Prufrock]]" and [[Sweeney Agonistes|''Sweeney'']]. Pound developed such characters as [[Cino]], [[Bertran de Born]], [[Propertius]], and [[Hugh Selwyn Mauberly|Mauberley]] in response to figures in Browning’s dramatic monologues. Whereas Eliot used "masks" to distance himself from aspects of modern life which he found degrading and repulsive, Pound's personae were often poets and could be considered in good part [[alter-ego|alter ego]]s. For Pound, the personae were a way of working through a specific poetic problem. In this sense, the persona is a transparent mask, wearing the traits of two poets and responding to two situations, old and new, which are similar and overlapping.

In [[literary analysis]], any narrative voice that speaks in the first person and appears to define a particular character is often referred to as a persona. It is contrasted with a third-person narrative voice, generally taken to be more objective and impersonal. There are borderline cases, such as the "we" that occurs late in [[Edwin Arlington Robinson]]'s poem and functions something like a chorus in a Greek tragedy, but in general any identifiable narrator whose point of view or manner of speaking clearly distinguishes them from the author is considered a literary persona.

In [[fan fiction]] and in online stories, the personas may especially reflect the authors' [[self-insertion]].

==In music==
[[File:David Bowie 1976.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[David Bowie]] as [[The Thin White Duke]] at Maple Leaf Gardens, [[Toronto]] 1976]]

=== The concept of musical personae ===
The concept of personae in music was introduced by [[Edward T. Cone]] in his ''[[The Composer's Voice]]'' (1974), which dealt with the relation between the lyrical self of a song's lyrics and its composer.<ref>Deborah Stein and Robert Spillman, ''[[iarchive:poetryintosongpe0000stei|Poetry Into Song: Performance and Analysis of Lieder]]'' (Oxford University Press US, 2010), p.235. {{ISBN|0-19-975430-6}}</ref> Performance studies scholar Philip Auslander includes further contextual frames, in which musical persona is the primary product of musical performances apart from the original text.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Auslander |first=Philip |date=2006 |title=Musical Personae |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4492661 |journal=TDR (1988-) |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=100–119 |doi=10.1162/dram.2006.50.1.100 |jstor=4492661 |s2cid=57563345 |issn=1054-2043|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Auslander argues that music is a primary social frame as a "principle of organization which govern events."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goffman |first=Erving |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1175799 |title=Frame analysis : an essay on the organization of experience |date=1974 |isbn=0-06-090372-4 |location=New York |pages=10 |oclc=1175799}}</ref> In addition, he categorizes three types of personae transformation: lateral moves within the same frame at a given moment; movements from one frame to another; and within a single frame that changes over time and hypothesizes that personae transformation could only happen when the genre framing changes. As a strategic formation of public identity in communities, musical personae describe how music moves through cultures.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fairchild |first1=Charles |last2=Marshall |first2=P. David |date=2019-07-11 |title=Music and Persona: An Introduction |url=https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/ps/article/view/856 |journal=Persona Studies |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=9 |doi=10.21153/psj2019vol5no1art856 |issn=2205-5258|hdl=10536/DRO/DU:30128841 |s2cid=199177465 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Persona maintains stability of performance with the expectation from the audience matching in musical presentation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fairchild |first1=Charles |last2=Marshall |first2=P. David |date=2019-07-11 |title=Music and Persona: An Introduction |url=https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/ps/article/view/856 |journal=Persona Studies |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=4 |doi=10.21153/psj2019vol5no1art856 |issn=2205-5258|hdl=10536/DRO/DU:30128841 |s2cid=199177465 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

The concept of persona can also be used to refer to an [[instrumentalist]], like a pianist and their playing style,<ref>Deborah Stein and Robert Spillman, p.106.</ref> although the term is more commonly used to refer to the voice and performance nuances of a vocalist in a studio album or in a live concert. In online spaces where personae are more visible, musical personae can be created through the flexible and fluid virtual bodies of avatars.<ref>{{cite book |author1-last=Harvey |author1-first=Trevor S. |editor1-last=Whiteley |editor1-first=Sheila |editor2-last=Rambarran |editor2-first=Shara |chapter=Avatar Rockstars |title=The Oxford Handbook of Music and Virtuality |date=2016 |pages=171–190 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199321285.013.1 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |language=en |isbn=9780199321285}}</ref>

Usually, the performers assume a role that matches the music they sing on [[Stage (theatre)|stage]], though they may also be composers. Many performers make use of a persona. Some artists create various characters, especially if their career is long and they go through many changes over time.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rambarran |first=Shara |url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/virtual-music-9781501336379/ |title=Virtual Music: Sound, Music, and Image in the Digital Era |date= |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-5013-3637-9 |location=New York |chapter="Living in a Fantasy": Performers and Identity.}}</ref> For example, [[David Bowie]] initially adopted a role as alien messenger [[Ziggy Stardust (character)|Ziggy Stardust]], and later as [[The Thin White Duke]].<ref>James E. Perone, ''The words and music of David Bowie'' (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007), ppp. 39, 51, and 108. {{ISBN|0-275-99245-4}}</ref> More than just artistic [[pseudonym]]s, the personae are independent characters used in the artist's shows and albums (in this example, ''[[The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars]]'' and ''[[Station to Station]]''). However, in music, a persona does not always mean a change. Some authors have noted that [[Bob Dylan]]'s charisma is due largely to his almost stereotyped image, always with a [[harmonica]], [[guitar]], and with his distinctive hair, nasal voice, and clothing.<ref>Paul Williams, ''[[iarchive:bobdylanperformi0000will y7u0|Bob Dylan: performing artist 1986-1990 & beyond : mind out of time]]'' (Omnibus Press, 2004),  p.229. {{ISBN|1-84449-281-8}}</ref> The persona also serves to claim a right or to draw attention to a certain subject. That is the case of [[Marilyn Manson]] and his interest in death and [[morbidity]], and [[Madonna]] and her interest in sexuality.<ref>Bhesham R. Sharma, ''[[iarchive:deathofart0000shar|The death of art]]'' (University Press of America, 2006), p.14. {{ISBN|0-7618-3466-4}}</ref>

=== Examples ===

==== American artists ====

* [[Beyoncé]]: the persona of Beyoncé, "Sasha Fierce", appears on the album ''[[I Am... Sasha Fierce]]''. According to Beyoncé, Sasha is her wilder side, emerging during high octane stage performances and serving as a sort of [[scapegoat]] for "unladylike" behavior.<ref name="npr">{{cite news |last=Chace |first=Zoe |date=12 Aug 2010 |title=Pop Personae: Why Do Some Women Perform In Character? |work=NPR.com |publisher=[[NPR]] |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2010/08/11/129134759/pop-personae-why-do-some-women-perform-in-character |access-date=19 August 2012}}</ref><ref name="debut">{{Cite magazine |last=Jonathan |first=Cohen |date=November 26, 2008 |title=Beyoncé Starts 'Fierce' Atop Album Chart |url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/266192/beyonce-starts-fierce-atop-album-chart |url-status=dead |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |publisher=[[Prometheus Global Media]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100126185021/http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/beyonce-starts-fierce-atop-album-chart-1003916959.story |archive-date=January 26, 2010}}</ref>
* [[Lady Gaga]]: Jo Calderone, the persona of Gaga, performed at the [[2011 MTV Video Music Awards]]. Jo represents a [[Drag (clothing)|drag]] male persona, and is often used in the performance of her song, "[[You and I (Lady Gaga song)|You and I]]".<ref>{{cite web |last=Dinh |first=James |date=2011-09-28 |title=Lady Gaga Bends Gender, Minds With VMA Monologue |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1669859/lady-gaga-jo-calderone-video-music-awards.jhtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111018133609/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1669859/lady-gaga-jo-calderone-video-music-awards.jhtml |archive-date=18 October 2011 |access-date=2011-09-28 |publisher=MTV}}</ref>
* [[Nicki Minaj]]: she employs multiple personae, ranging from what she calls the [[Japanese fashion|Harajuku]] [[Barbie]] persona to [[Roman Zolanski]], a Polish homosexual. The personae were heavily used in her sophomore album, ''[[Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded]]''.<ref name="NewYorkAlterego">{{cite magazine |author=Lizzy Goodman |date=June 20, 2010 |title=Nicki Minaj, the Rapper With a Crush on Meryl Streep |url=http://nymag.com/guides/summer/2010/66786/ |magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York magazine]] |access-date=July 22, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Rap-Up.com">{{cite web |last=Dawson |first=Imani A. |title=Nicki Minaj Gets 'Revenge' With Eminem |url=http://www.rap-up.com/2010/10/28/nicki-minaj-gets-revenge-with-eminem/ |access-date=November 4, 2010 |work=[[Rap-Up]].com |publisher=Vibe Media Group}}</ref>

==== British artists ====

* [[Mick Jagger]] of [[the Rolling Stones]]: he takes the guise of [[Satan]] in the song "[[Sympathy for the Devil]]" or of a housewife in "[[Slave (The Rolling Stones song)|Slave]]"
* [[Spice Girls]]: each member of [[girl group]] adopted personas based on nicknames given to them by the British press. According to ''[[Music Week]]'', these personas ("[[Geri Halliwell|Ginger]]", "[[Victoria Beckham|Posh]]", "[[Emma Bunton|Baby]]", "[[Melanie C|Sporty]]" and "[[Mel B|Scary]]") played a key role in the group's international marketability.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Barrett |first1=Christopher |date=November 10, 2007 |title=Spice Girls: From Wannabes to World Beaters |page=13 |work=[[Music Week]] |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/232226522/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=February 23, 2021 |issn=0265-1548 |via=[[ProQuest]]}}</ref> Spice Girl Melanie C later said the personas were "like a protection mechanism because it was like putting on this armour of being this, this character, rather than it actually being you."<ref>{{cite web |last=White |first=Amelia |date=April 2, 2020 |title=Melanie C Imagines How The Spice Girls Would Fare In 2020 |url=https://www.thelovemagazine.co.uk/article/melanie-c-imagines-how-the-spice-girls-would-fare-in-2020 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210314085742/https://www.thelovemagazine.co.uk/article/melanie-c-imagines-how-the-spice-girls-would-fare-in-2020 |archive-date=March 14, 2021 |access-date=March 14, 2021 |work=[[Love (magazine)|Love]]}}</ref>
* [[The Beatles]]: they present a group persona ''of [[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'',<ref>[[Kenneth Womack]] and Todd F. Davis, ''[[iarchive:readingbeatlescu0000unse|Reading the Beatles: cultural studies, literary criticism, and the Fab Four]]'' (SUNY Press, 2006), p.21. {{ISBN|0-7914-6715-5}}</ref> including the character Billy Shears "played by" drummer [[Ringo Starr]].<ref>Allan F. Moore, ''[[iarchive:beatlessgtpepper0000moor|The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'' (Cambridge University Press, 1997), p.75. {{ISBN|0-521-57484-6}}</ref>
{{clear}}

==In marketing and user experience design==
{{main|Persona (user experience)}}
Personas are used in marketing and advertising by creating a [[persona (user experience)|marketing persona]] that represents a group or segment of customers<ref>{{cite web |last=Rind |first=Bonnie |author-link=Bonnie Rind |title=The Power of the Persona |url=http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/magazine/5/4/the-power-of-the-persona |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815120017/http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/magazine/5/4/the-power-of-the-persona |archive-date=15 Aug 2009 |access-date=May 5, 2009 |quote=The identification and application of personas improved Development’s efficiency and quality during the first development cycle in which they were used. In addition, the use of personas significantly improved corporate cohesiveness, focus and decision making at every level.}}</ref> so that the company can focus its efforts. For example, online advertising agencies can monitor pictures, browsing history and the ads people surfing the internet generally select or choose to click, and based on that data they tailor their merchandise to a targeted audience or better describe a customer segments using a data driven approach.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Jansen|first1=Bernard|last2=An|first2=Jisun|last3=Kwak|first3=Haewoon|last4=Salminen|first4=Joni|last5=Jung|first5=Soon-gyo|date=2017|title=Viewed by Too Many or Viewed Too Little: Using Information Dissemination for Audience Segmentation|url=http://www.bernardjjansen.com/uploads/2/4/1/8/24188166/jansen_viewing.pdf|journal=Association for Information Science and Technology Annual Meeting 2017 (ASIST2017)|pages=189–196}}</ref>

Personas are also used in [[user experience design]], known as user personas. [[Alan Cooper (software designer)|Alan Cooper]] introduced personas in his book, ''The Inmates Are Running the Asylum'' (1998). Cooper play-acted fictitious characters in order to help solve design questions.<ref>Alan Cooper: "[https://web.archive.org/web/20150118054429/http://www.cooper.com:80/journal/2003/08/the_origin_of_personas.html The origin of personas]". Cooper Journal, May 15, 2008.</ref> These personas need to be based on user research and can also be described in narrative form.<ref>Kim Goodwin: "[https://web.archive.org/web/20141013110926/http://www.cooper.com/journal/2002/11/getting_from_research_to_perso.html Getting from research to personas: harnessing the power of data]". Cooper Journal, May 15, 2008.</ref> Creating personas has become synonymous with creating a document, known as persona profile, instead of an "activity of empathetic role-play".<ref>Andrew Hinton: "[http://boxesandarrows.com/personas-and-the-role-of-design-documentation/ Personas and the Role of Design Documentation]." Boxes and Arrow, February 27th, 2008.</ref>

==See also==
{{Wiktionary}}
*[[Alter ego]]
*[[Avatar]]
*[[Character mask]]
*[[Costume]]
*[[Dissociative identity disorder]]
*[[Doppelgänger]]
*[[Fursona]], a term for a [[Furry fandom|furry's]] persona
*[[Pen name]]
*[[Rebirth (Buddhism)|Rebirth]]/[[Reincarnation]]
*[[Pseudonym]]
*[[Stage name]]

==Citations==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Literary criticism]]
[[Category:Literary theory]]