 One source of this problem is the phenomenon sometimes called “the theatricality of everyday life”. Suppose human beings present themselves in everyday life and that they do so in the same ways that actors do. How then could anyone tell if/when someone else is acting or not (Goffman 1959)? The easy answer to this has to do with framing effects. A person is acting only if they are performing for an audience on stage (Thom 1992). That is, they act only if they are within a socially agreed upon frame. And, indeed this is the answer that Erving Goffman gives to his own question.