Word: personas

Associations

The word "personas" is the plural form of "persona," which refers to the characters or roles people adopt in different situations, often representing different aspects of their identity. It's commonly used in psychology, marketing, and storytelling.

• In marketing, companies create customer personas to better understand their target audience. This helps tailor their products or services.
• In psychology, individuals may adopt different personas in their social life, like being more outgoing at a party but reserved at work.
• In storytelling, authors build personas for their characters, giving them distinct traits to make the story engaging.

Synonym: "identities." The difference is that "personas" often imply a performance or role played by a person, while "identities" refers to the state of being oneself, encompassing all aspects of a person.

Substitution

Depending on the context, you might use phrases like "roles," "characters," or "identities."

• "Roles" suggest duties or functions in a specific context.
• "Characters" typically refer to fictional representations, not necessarily real-life roles.
• "Identities" broaden the concept to who a person is on a deeper level, beyond roles.

Deconstruction

The word "persona" comes from Latin, meaning "mask." In ancient theater, actors wore masks to portray different characters. The suffix "-as" makes it plural in English. This origin reflects the idea of people showing different sides of themselves depending on the situation, like wearing a mask.

Inquiry

• Can you think of a time when you had to adopt a different persona in front of different friends or family?
• How might understanding personas change the way you interact with others?
• In what situations do you feel you have to switch between different personas? How does that make you feel?