The Psychology of First Impressions

18 Jan The Psychology of First Impressions

How to Better Manage First Impressions

We’ve all heard about the importance of first impressions and how hard it is to change them later. In fact, research tells us it only takes the duration of an eye blink to size up another person in terms of attractiveness and trustworthiness. Over the next three seconds, we form a more “complete” conclusion about a new acquaintance relating to their presumed personality and competence.

Obviously, in that short a period of time, we have not really gotten to know the other person. Rather, we have used our cognitive biases and filters to form a “snap judgment” about someone, just as they have about us. Those judgments may or may not be accurate, but they endure. And if the judgment made is a negative one, the difficulty in shifting someone’s opinion is extremely high.

In many ways, the snap judgment of first impressions is related to the halo effect – where the perception of positive qualities in one thing or part gives rise to the perception of similar qualities in related things or in the whole. Accordingly, it’s important to know how to better manage first impressions and increase the odds of making a positive one. The following will focus on how to do just that. However, let’s begin with a few things that affect first impressions.

General Factors Affecting First Impressions

The majority of communication happens on a nonverbal level. That means that sensory factors such as how we look, sound and smell drive much of the impressions conveyed when we meet someone new. Body language is many times more relevant than the words we utter.

People, whether consciously aware of it or not, generally prefer others who are similar to themselves in look, personality, attitude, belief and behavior. Deviations in our appearance, speech and behavior are likely to affect the initial impression someone has of us (and we of them). Fortunately, people also tend to think that others share their opinions and beliefs more than they actually do, so there’s a benefit of the doubt that one shouldn’t violate too soon by demonstrating our differences with someone we’re meeting for the first time.

One of the biggest cognitive biases people harbor is the fundamental attribution bias: We tend to ascribe behaviors of others to their inherent traits or (in)competence, but tend to associate our own behaviors more to external circumstances and environment. For example, if someone interviewing for a job stumbles a bit on walking into a room, the interviewer is more likely to view the interviewee as clumsy or impaired while the interviewee will likely blame the office floor and/or their shoes.

The psychological literature is filled with other cognitive biases and effects that can drive first impressions. We track more than 100 of them at Six Degrees to aid in our psycho-sensory brand-building efforts.

Specific Factors Affecting First Impressions

Here are just a few of the specific factors research has shown to affect the first impressions people form of new acquaintances. It’s important to remember that these are proclivities and tendencies and not inevitable conclusions any given person will draw. 

How to Create a Better First Impression

So, now that we know some of what drives first impressions and how important it is to make a positive one, here are a few suggestions for creating an effective first impression when meeting someone new:

1. Dress slightly better than the occasion warrants.
2. Make frequent eye contact, especially when speaking, but avoid dominating with your eyes.
3. Smile (we search for smiles and notice them at great distances).
4. Think of the most positive feature of the other person (that will put you in a pleasant frame of mind).
5. Adjust your voice, gestures, posture and words to the other person (remember, we prefer people who are similar to us).
6. Give people the benefit of the doubt (i.e., remember the fundamental attribution error).
7. Be confident in yourself and don’t try to be someone you’re not.
8. Express early those attributes you most want to convey.

First impressions are important, and as the saying goes, you only get one opportunity to make one. But that’s no reason to fear them. Knowing and acting on what is shown to work to create better first impressions will help you do just that.

So, go forth and meet confidently!