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You may have heard the old saying, "Don't judge the book by its cover". This adage has a meaning which means don't judge someone from their outward appearance or on first impression. In fact, many people do the opposite. They tend to judge a person's character at the first meeting. However, is this method accurate according to psychological observations? Come on, find out the answer in the following review.
Is that first impression important?
Every day you get to know new people you meet in your office, neighborhood, or on the street. How often do you draw conclusions about the character of everyone you meet.
If you see someone in a trendy outfit, shoe, or bag, you will surely draw the conclusion that that person is very fashionable. Likewise, when you see someone reading a novel, book or newspaper on the train, you will assume that that person has a hobby of reading. In fact, does your judgment on first impressions matter?
The adage does direct you not to determine a person's character by their appearance, especially at the first meeting. However, most people tend to rate someone at the first meeting, then revise their assessment at the next meeting.
To judge how a person is, your senses and instincts will gather information. Starting from seeing how he looks, gestures, expressions and hearing the tone or way of speaking. The impression at the first meeting is recorded stronger in your brain than the meeting afterwards.
"It tends to draw conclusions about someone in a fraction of a second, basically not always leading to negative things," said Vivian Zayas, PhD, a psychology lecturer at Cornell University, as quoted from the Health page.
Judging someone from the first meeting can help you determine a dangerous situation and also determine a match between you and that person. You will experience it, for example when avoiding someone you think is not good or selecting prospective workers during an interview session.
Can you guess the character from the first impression?
Source: Reader's Digest
Reporting from the BBC, Katherine Rogers from the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga and Jeremy Biesanz from the University of British Columbia conducted research on thousands of students. The students were asked to chat with a stranger for three minutes or watch a video of someone they didn't know at the same time. Then, give an assessment of how the personality of the interlocutor or the person being observed.
The results show that there are some students who can judge personality very accurately, some are not. Researchers argue that the accuracy of these assessments is influenced by the ability in a person to gather information from what they see and hear, and draw conclusions according to the information obtained.
This shows that judging other people's personalities at the first meeting is not always accurate. This depends on a person's ability in judgment, the duration of interaction with each other, and how that person shows himself to others.
That is why in job interviews, the police, or other institutions, the personality assessment team is selected people who do have the ability and accuracy in assessing a person's personality.
