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A '''persona''', in the [[word]] everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an [[actor]]. This is an Italian word that derives from the Latin for "mask" or "character", derived from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etruscan_language Etruscan] word "phersu", with the same [[meaning]]. Popular etymology derives the word from [[Latin]] "per" meaning "through" and "sonare" meaning "to [[sound]]", meaning something in the vein of "that through which the actor speaks", i.e. a mask (early [[Greek]] actors wore masks).

A '''persona''', in the [[word]] everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an [[actor]]. This is an Italian word that derives from the Latin for "mask" or "character", derived from the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etruscan_language Etruscan] word "phersu", with the same [[meaning]]. Popular etymology derives the word from [[Latin]] "per" meaning "through" and "sonare" meaning "to [[sound]]", meaning something in the vein of "that through which the actor speaks", i.e. a mask (early [[Greek]] actors wore masks).

==In communication studies==

==In communication studies==

In the study of [[communication]], persona is a term given to describe the versions of self that all [[individuals]] possess. [[Behaviours]] are selected according to the [[desire]]d impression an individual wishes to create when interacting with other people. Therefore, personae presented to other people vary according to the social environment the person is engaged in, in particular the persona presented before others will differ from the persona an individual will present when he/she happens to be alone.

In the study of [[communication]], persona is a term given to describe the versions of self that all [[individuals]] possess. [[Behaviours]] are selected according to the [[desire]]d impression an individual wishes to create when interacting with other people. Therefore, personae presented to other people vary according to the social environment the person is engaged in, in particular the persona presented before others will differ from the persona an individual will present when he/she happens to be alone.

As used in the [[design]] field, the Persona is an [[artifact]] that consists of a [[narrative]] relating to a desired user or customer's daily [[behavior]] [[patterns]], using specific details, not generalities. A very popular artifact is the 'persona poster' that is usually presented in an 18 inch format with photo and text.  

As used in the [[design]] field, the Persona is an [[artifact]] that consists of a [[narrative]] relating to a desired user or customer's daily [[behavior]] [[patterns]], using specific details, not generalities. A very popular artifact is the 'persona poster' that is usually presented in an 18 inch format with photo and text.  

==In literature==

==In literature==

[[Criticism]] of poetry and fiction refer to a "second self" created by the [[author]] and through whom the narrative is related. Importantly, attributes and [[attitudes]] associated with the persona are understood to be separate from authorial [[intentions]], per se, though there may in fact be some overlap between the two. For instance, in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoevsky Dostoevsky]'s [[novel]], ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notes_from_Underground Notes from Underground]'' (generally considered to be the first [[existentialist]] novel), the narrator ought not to be conflated with Dostoevsky himself, despite the fact that Dostoevsky and his narrator may or may not have shared much in common. In this sense, the persona is basically a mouthpiece for a particular [[worldview]]. Another instance of this [[phenomenon]] can be found in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Easton_Ellis Brett Easton Ellis]' novel, ''American Psycho'', the story of a sociopathic murderer living in [[New York City]], who is a successful, if very troubled, Wall Street executive by day. The [[work]] is one of social satire, and as such may well [[reflect]] a good deal of [[authorial]] [[intention]], but the persona of Patrick Bateman (the novel's first-person narrator) ought not to be conflated with the novel's [[author]].

[[Criticism]] of poetry and fiction refer to a "second self" created by the [[author]] and through whom the narrative is related. Importantly, attributes and [[attitudes]] associated with the persona are understood to be separate from authorial [[intentions]], per se, though there may in fact be some overlap between the two. For instance, in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoevsky Dostoevsky]'s [[novel]], ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notes_from_Underground Notes from Underground]'' (generally considered to be the first [[existentialist]] novel), the narrator ought not to be conflated with Dostoevsky himself, despite the fact that Dostoevsky and his narrator may or may not have shared much in common. In this sense, the persona is basically a mouthpiece for a particular [[worldview]]. Another instance of this [[phenomenon]] can be found in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Easton_Ellis Brett Easton Ellis]' novel, ''American Psycho'', the story of a sociopathic murderer living in [[New York City]], who is a successful, if very troubled, Wall Street executive by day. The [[work]] is one of social satire, and as such may well [[reflect]] a good deal of [[authorial]] [[intention]], but the persona of Patrick Bateman (the novel's first-person narrator) ought not to be conflated with the novel's [[author]].

In both of the examples just given, the persona is an active participant in the story he is narrating — it is his own story — but this need not be the case. To take another example from Dostoevsky's work, the narrator of ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov The Brothers Karamazov]'' is not an active participant in the story, but nevertheless presents a clear [[perspective]] on the [[events]] concerned therein. In other [[words]], the invisible and [[omniscient]] narrator of Dostoevsky's novel gives the reader the impression of taking a definite [[attitude]] toward the proceedings being related, albeit subtly so, and mainly by tone of description and idiosyncratic phrasing.

In both of the examples just given, the persona is an active participant in the story he is narrating — it is his own story — but this need not be the case. To take another example from Dostoevsky's work, the narrator of ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov The Brothers Karamazov]'' is not an active participant in the story, but nevertheless presents a clear [[perspective]] on the [[events]] concerned therein. In other [[words]], the invisible and [[omniscient]] narrator of Dostoevsky's novel gives the reader the impression of taking a definite [[attitude]] toward the proceedings being related, albeit subtly so, and mainly by tone of description and idiosyncratic phrasing.

Finally, the 20th century has provided us with many intermediate instances. One example is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Faulkner Faulkner]'s novel ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_I_Lay_Dying_(novel) As I Lay Dying]'', a story told entirely via the interior monologues of 15 first person narrators, and thus from the same number of differing perspectives. Another example of a vague or undefined [[relationship]] between narrator, protagonist, and persons; a preeminent example in the [[English]] language can be found in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce James Joyce]'s novel, ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_(novel) Ulysses]''. Here we find instances of direct first person narration, third person narration mixed with first person [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stream_of_consciousness_writing stream of consciousness], dozens of pages of catechismic question-and-answer, a surrealistic stageplay-like episode with [[dialogue]] and stage directions, and finally the famous extended first person stream of consciousness [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soliloquy soliloquy] that closes the [[book]]. Examples such as these tend to blur or call into question the role of a persona, at the same time as they supply rich fodder for academic [[analyses]] of the works themselves.

Finally, the 20th century has provided us with many intermediate instances. One example is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Faulkner Faulkner]'s novel ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_I_Lay_Dying_(novel) As I Lay Dying]'', a story told entirely via the interior monologues of 15 first person narrators, and thus from the same number of differing perspectives. Another example of a vague or undefined [[relationship]] between narrator, protagonist, and persons; a preeminent example in the [[English]] language can be found in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce James Joyce]'s novel, ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_(novel) Ulysses]''. Here we find instances of direct first person narration, third person narration mixed with first person [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stream_of_consciousness_writing stream of consciousness], dozens of pages of catechismic question-and-answer, a surrealistic stageplay-like episode with [[dialogue]] and stage directions, and finally the famous extended first person stream of consciousness [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soliloquy soliloquy] that closes the [[book]]. Examples such as these tend to blur or call into question the role of a persona, at the same time as they supply rich fodder for academic [[analyses]] of the works themselves.

To sum up, a persona can, broadly-speaking, be understood as the "organizing [[consciousness]]" of the [[narrative]]. This clearly differentiates it from any characters, even major and well-developed ones, who do not steer the [[reader]]'s [[perspective]] on the proceedings. However, in some very well-defined cases, the question might arise: Why bother positing an organizing consciousness, understood on some level to be separate from that of the [[author]], at all? Different schools of [[criticism]] will have differing answers to this question, and some — the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-structuralism post-structuralist school], for instance — might take issue with the very notion of a single organizing consciousness. But in general, the [[practice]] is adopted as a handy way of understanding the guiding principles of a work without treading too far into disputes about what a particular author was "really like" or "really thought about [[things]]" in his or her own personal life.

To sum up, a persona can, broadly-speaking, be understood as the "organizing [[consciousness]]" of the [[narrative]]. This clearly differentiates it from any characters, even major and well-developed ones, who do not steer the [[reader]]'s [[perspective]] on the proceedings. However, in some very well-defined cases, the question might arise: Why bother positing an organizing consciousness, understood on some level to be separate from that of the [[author]], at all? Different schools of [[criticism]] will have differing answers to this question, and some — the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-structuralism post-structuralist school], for instance — might take issue with the very notion of a single organizing consciousness. But in general, the [[practice]] is adopted as a handy way of understanding the guiding principles of a work without treading too far into disputes about what a particular author was "really like" or "really thought about [[things]]" in his or her own personal life.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens Charles Dickens] and [[William Blake]], for instance, were widely known to have [[progressive]] [[attitudes]] regarding the difficulties faced by the working classes in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_England Victorian England] and the effect of England's industrial revolution on contemporary life, respectively, and their attitudes were clearly [[reflected]] in their work. Furthermore, if the [[interpretation]] of a work is taken to be fundamentally the [[process]] of deciphering an author's personal [[feelings]] about various subjects — an attempt to understand the ''mens auctoris'' ([[mind]] of the [[author]]) — then it might be argued that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_criticism literary criticism] thereby degenerates into a kind of pseudo-[[psychoanalysis]], leaving little room for consideration of the works themselves. Finally, and for similar reasons, the narrator-as-personation allows for greater interpretive latitude, and thus arguably richer interpretive possibilities, than a more strictly authorially-centered approach might.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens Charles Dickens] and [[William Blake]], for instance, were widely known to have [[progressive]] [[attitudes]] regarding the difficulties faced by the working classes in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_England Victorian England] and the effect of England's industrial revolution on contemporary life, respectively, and their attitudes were clearly [[reflected]] in their work. Furthermore, if the [[interpretation]] of a work is taken to be fundamentally the [[process]] of deciphering an author's personal [[feelings]] about various subjects — an attempt to understand the ''mens auctoris'' ([[mind]] of the [[author]]) — then it might be argued that [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_criticism literary criticism] thereby degenerates into a kind of pseudo-[[psychoanalysis]], leaving little room for consideration of the works themselves. Finally, and for similar reasons, the narrator-as-personation allows for greater interpretive latitude, and thus arguably richer interpretive possibilities, than a more strictly authorially-centered approach might.

==In psychology==

==In psychology==

The persona is also the mask or appearance one presents to the world.[1] It may appear in dreams under various guises (see [[Carl Jung]] and his [[psychology]]). Importantly, the persona, used in this sense, is not a pose or some other [[intentional]] misrepresentation of the self to others. Rather, it is the self as self-construed, and may [[change]] according to [[context]].

The persona is also the mask or appearance one presents to the world.[1] It may appear in dreams under various guises (see [[Carl Jung]] and his [[psychology]]). Importantly, the persona, used in this sense, is not a pose or some other [[intentional]] misrepresentation of the self to others. Rather, it is the self as self-construed, and may [[change]] according to [[context]].

==Notes==

==Notes==

# Jung, Carl Gustav (August 1, 1971). "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_Types Psychological Types]". Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 6. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-09774.  

# Jung, Carl Gustav (August 1, 1971). "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_Types Psychological Types]". Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 6. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-09774.  

# Rind, Bonnie. "[http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/magazine/5/4/the-power-of-the-persona The Power of the Persona]". http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/magazine/5/4/the-power-of-the-persona. Retrieved May 5, 2009. "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."

# Rind, Bonnie. "[https://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/magazine/5/4/the-power-of-the-persona The Power of the Persona]". https://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/magazine/5/4/the-power-of-the-persona. Retrieved May 5, 2009. "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."

[[Category: Psychology]]

[[Category: Psychology]]

[[Category: Languages and Literature]]

[[Category: Languages and Literature]]