First Impressions Do Count

Warm-up Question

Do you judge someone based on your first impressions of them, or do you wait until you’ve known them for a while before making a judgement?

Today’s Article

When we meet someone for the first time, we notice a number of things about that person-physical characteristics, clothes, firmness of handshake, geastures, tone of voice, and the like. We then use these impressions to quickly fit the persion into ready-made categories. And this early categorization tends to hold greater weight than impressions and information received later.

Psychologists refer to the power of first impressions as the primarcy effect. Essentially, it just means that first impressions influence latter impressions. The important points about the primacy effect are that it carries a lot of weight when we assess other people and that those impressions are not very accurate.

Why do we rely so heavily on first impressions? Basically, we’re looking for a shortcut. When we meet new people, we want to categorize them so that we can process and understand information about them quickly. The error is compounded by the fact that we also tend to cling to our first impressions, and we tend to discount, misrepresent, reinterpret, or even ignore new information that contradicts our first impression.

Research on employment iterviews confirms the power of first impressions. Studies have looked at assessments made of applicants before the actual interview— that brief period in which the applicant walks into an interview room, exchanges greetings with the interviewer, sits down, and engages in minor chit-chat.

The evidence indicates that the way applicants walk, talk, dress, and look can have a greate impact on the iterviewer’s evaluation of applicant qualifications. Positive first impressions also lead interviewers to speak in a more pleasant interpersonal style and to ask less-threatening questions. A final body of confirmative research finds that interviewers’ post-interview evaluations of applicants conform, to a substantial degree, to their pre-interview impressions.

Can managers do anything to lessen the power of first impressions? First, we suggest that you avoid the tendency to make quick initial judgments. Try to stay neutral when you meet someone for the first time. The more time that goes by before you make a conclusion, the better you’ll know the person and the more accurate your assessment. Second, keep your mind open for new information that may contradict earlier assessments. Think of any early impressions as a working hypothesis that you’re constantly testing for its accuracy.

Key Vocabulary

• ready-made
• shortcut
• to be compounded by
• to misrepresent
• to reinterpret
• to contradict
• chit-chat
• to conform to
• a substantial degree
• hypothesis

Useful Expressions

The following are some useful expressions. Review each expression and make your own sentence using them.

1. to hold/carry greater weight (exp.)

• Example 1 : The senior engineer’s opinion carries a lot of weight on the team.
• Example 2 : Without a legal contract, this agreement won’t hold a lot of weight in a court.

Make your own:

2. to cling to (v.p.)

• Example 1 : He still cling to his belieft that he can make a lot of money without working hard.
• Example 2 : She is still clinging to her hope of finding the perfect match.

Make your own:

Discussion & Debate

Share your thoughts on the following discussion questions.

• In your own words, describe the primacy effect.
• How is the error of making a wrong first impressions made worse?
• Have you interviewed people for job positions before? Do you agree with what the author said about how first impressions affect the job interview?
• What pieces of advice does the author give to combat quick first impressions? Do you have other advice?
• Based on the article, do you think it’s important to pay attention to the primacy effect? Why or why not?

Wrap Up

Take notes on what you can recall from this topic.