Is the first impression so important?

It is often said that 30 seconds are enough to form an opinion about a person and make a judgment about them. Is the first impression always correct?

Surely it has happened to you at some point. You are introduced to a person and soon, without really knowing the reason, you end up making an assessment about them. You don’t need a minute to have that first impression. His appearance, his gestures, manners, his voice… small details that make up an image that you end up cataloging in one way or another.

It may surprise you, but studies tell us that, In general, people are pretty good at those brief analyzes that outline first impressions. Be that as it may, we usually have very little time not only to analyze others, but to make a good impression ourselves.

“There is never a second chance to make a good first impression.”

-Oscar Wilde-

Why do we form an impression so quickly?

Psychologists tell us that sometimes we do it not in 30 seconds, but in thousandths of a second.. In just a breath we know if a person is to our liking or not, if he inspires confidence in us or not. Why is this happening? It is an aspect that has to do with the evolution of our species. A very easy to understand adaptive resource.

If we judge the person before us as threatening and dangerous, our first reaction will be to flee. People need to make instant evaluations to make decisions on the spot. In a way, these seemingly quick analyzes have a lot to do with our personality, our fears and also our needs. It is true that we have that instinctive – and almost irrational – part that tells us instantly whether something is harmless or threatening, but our own experience also weighs heavily.

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A neat and well-dressed person may seem aseptic and superficial to you, you may prefer a somewhat more informal image because it makes you closer and reminds you of other of your friends… all traits that have a lot to do with our personality, and our particular style. We could say that our brain is programmed to reach a quick conclusion with very little information..

How does the first impression work?

Every day we receive hundreds, thousands of stimuli. We do not have time to process them all or to break down all that information to the millimeter. So how do we arrive at certain decisions? Unconsciously. Thats the reality, Most of our decisions are made quickly and unconsciously.there where our memories, our sensations, our experiences, our personality are archived…

The brain organizes information into categories, and from there it makes quick comparisons. Very fast and always with the help of emotions. Does this person look like someone from our past who hurt us? Is that tone of voice pleasant to you? Is his smile as sincere as our father’s, or is it as fake as our neighbor’s?

Researchers Sunnafrank and Ramírez (2004) carried out a very interesting investigation regarding the first impression. According to these authors, a large number of young people determined at first glance what the level of quality of the relationship with another person would be, this shows that the first impression is an instrument of regulation in future interpersonal relationships. As a result of this first impression, each person decides the effort they invest in advancing their relationship with other people..

Beware of the halo effect

The halo effect is a very common cognitive bias. It has to do with the influence of our perceptions, in judging the qualities of a person from our first impression. This term was coined by psychologist Edward L. Thorndike in 1920, when he realized that people tend to draw global conclusions about groups or ethnic groups of people, without knowing them individually.

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A clear example of the halo effect would be, for example, meeting a person who is physically attractive to us.. When we see their pleasant image we tend to think that their actions, opinions and beliefs will be just as positive as their physical appearance. And this is something to take into account, since As a result of extending a physical attribute to internal qualities, we make the mistake of creating false expectations of other people. and we can fall, for example, into toxic relationships.

Sometimes people make mistakes. The first impression has a direct effect, we cannot deny it, but it does not have to be decisive. We never know what is hidden behind an image, and there may be no better adventure than discovering what is behind an appearance.