PARIS — A sober-sounding President Emmanuel Macron presented himself to journalists at the Élysée Palace on Thursday night for the first news conference of his presidency, chastened by five months of often violent anti-government protests.

Mr. Macron was the protesters’ principal target as the perceived president of the rich. So Thursday he promised to undertake not only government reforms to appease the Yellow Vest movement’s call for greater economic equality, but also to reform himself.

No more arrogance. More humanity. More understanding. More listening. Less dictating.

Temples graying for the first time, the still-youthful Mr. Macron, 41, showed clearly that he had been affected by the economic and social protests that tore up Paris and cities in the French provinces. Those protests are continuing, though far smaller and somewhat more violent than at the beginning.

Rubber bullets, truncheons and tear gas now greet the protesters, preferred by forces sent by Mr. Macron’s interior minister, who sat in the front row at the news conference. The president, for his part, offered a dose of humility Thursday night.