The first opinion is misleading. First impression – deceptive or not? Jumping to conclusions about a person at work

Stepson Yulia Yurievna,
Deputy Director
on educational work,
primary school teacher,
MBOU NOSH No. 21 of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk,
Sakhalin region,
2016

First impression - deceptive or not?

Psychologists say that you can determine a person’s success in the first five minutes of communication with him. Appearance, manners, speech patterns, clothing... What influences the first impression most?.. Reflections led me to the library... Having studied several sources on the topic of the issue, I came to the conclusion that the factors influencing the first impression are:
- external attractiveness,
- non-verbal behavior of a person,
- attitude towards people,
- speech and voice,
- details of clothing.
In a word, the first impression depends on the ability to present yourself...
They believe that the chance to get Good work increases if a person can make a good first impression...
Five minutes... And an opinion about the person has already been formed. Further, the perception of the interlocutor goes through the prism of the first impressions that he made on you.
First impression... Is it deceptive or not?..
Previously, I often caught myself thinking that the first impression is not deceiving. But over time I became convinced that this was not so. After all, when perceiving a person, you need to take into account his characteristics and individuality. Some people can immediately freely begin communication, during which they will reveal themselves. It's easy to make a first impression about them. Others, on the contrary, will be closed and indecisive when meeting with strangers. They can be both intellectuals and completely narrow-minded people. It is not easy to guess what such a person hides within himself. And what is the cost of excitement, the consequence of which can be a situation like in Krylov’s fable - “the breath has been stolen from the goiter.”
First impression... But you also need to take into account the character of a person, his mood and even that life situation, in which he is in this moment located. And this applies to two interlocutors. After all, we also perceive a person through the prism of the events of our lives and our mood. In a word, everything depends on who is perceived, who perceives it and how.
And here’s another reason to think - is it so easy to “read” us when we don’t want to?.. It’s no secret that our life is a game and we are all actors in it... We can simply play one of the roles, observing the reaction of the interlocutor , thereby disguising himself.
First impression - is it deceptive or not?
There is probably no clear answer to this question.
In any case, a person needs to be given the opportunity to open up, and for this it is necessary to communicate with him for a long time, to see him in different situations. And only then draw any conclusions.

Let's try to figure it out and find answers to these questions.

Let's go from afar and remember the instinct of self-preservation. Our first reaction to a stranger is based on him. And the roots of this go deep to the times of our distant ancestors.

Ancient people, protecting their lives, were forced to instantly recognize a stranger on the principle of “enemy or friend.” Everything that was alive and encountered on their way was instantly assessed for the presence or absence of danger.

And this is not surprising. Trouble awaited our ancestors at every step, and therefore the instinct of self-preservation in those days was at a fairly high level.

If you knew how firmly this recognition mechanism has developed. He is simply unique. After all, we still use it at the genetic level. And we do it instinctively.

The image of a stranger is created spontaneously in us. We, like scanners, instantly analyze

• Sight
• Gestures
• Mimic
• Appearance and so on.

Even if a person is simply silent, he is still a source of information that we instantly read.

By the manner of behavior, by his movements, and a little later by the style of speech, we can calmly recognize the sincerity of our interlocutor, and determine whether we will trust him in the future. These are very important things.

Is the first impression deceptive in this regard? It is almost always reliable.

The first impression is our assistant. Thanks to him, we quickly navigate the communication situation. And we also quickly determine whether we like the person or not, whether we should continue getting to know him, or whether it’s better to say goodbye.

Remember the phrase “I liked her right away”?

This is nothing more than a phenomenon of rapid awareness.

The first impression must be trusted and, of course, it is worth giving importance to what we feel at the moment of meeting. In this regard, it is not as deceptive as some people think.

It’s another matter when we plan some important steps.

For example, business negotiations. Here you cannot rely entirely on first impressions.

Otherwise, along with the first impression, you can get happiness, but you can also get problems.

The first impression when communicating must be carefully verified.

Numerous studies prove that most adults who have extensive communication experience are able to more or less accurately determine characteristics interlocutor.

Are first impressions deceiving? Or is it reliable?

In 75% of cases, the first one turns out to be reliable. And in other cases?

Most likely, partly correct, or completely wrong. It all depends on:

• Who is perceived
• Who perceives
• And, of course, on the conditions of perception.

In the meantime, good luck filling out your Observation Diary.

You meet a person you've been wanting to meet for a long time. You have never met in person, and you are very excited about the upcoming meeting. Before this, you thought that something connected you. And now... you want to get rid of him as quickly as possible. Should you trust your first impression?

The following may happen next. You accidentally find yourself at the same event with this person. Your seats are nearby and it is absolutely impossible to avoid meeting. Your friend turns to you and praises your new hairstyle. You start chatting and realize that maybe he's not so bad. No, he is not at all arrogant and self-centered - as you thought before - but just a little shy. Soon you are already planning to renew your acquaintance.

Situations like these teach us that sometimes we make mistakes and miss the opportunity to bring something new into our lives. Sometimes we ignore the shortcomings of others. This could even end in financial losses if the prospective friend decides to profit at your expense. The opposite situation is when we judge people too harshly at the first meeting - this prevents us from making useful acquaintances.

Jumping to conclusions about a person at work

Perhaps too harsh conclusions about other people should be reconsidered. Hasty conclusions are often made about colleagues (subordinates or superiors). In a work situation, there can be a lot at stake. You either fire someone who doesn't deserve it; or you will be fired because the boss feels bad about him. It can also affect your career: the unfavorable work environment you create will turn others against you.

Why are first impressions wrong so often?

Why do our judgments sometimes turn out to be wrong? One reason is that we allow our appearance to influence our attitude. You may not like someone’s clothing style (too bright, informal or careless) - based on this, you will attribute other shortcomings to the person.

We often make judgments based on external characteristics such as age, gender, social class, ethnicity. No matter how hard a person tries, it can be difficult to dispel stereotypes, especially if at first glance he fits neatly into them.

Incline your opinion to negative side maybe some third party. Greg argues that Sally is irresponsible, incompetent and evil, and it's easier for you to agree with him. This may also play a role envy. You feel uncomfortable being around Sally because she seems to have everything come naturally. And you begin to look for its flaws.

Your perception of how others treat you also affects your mood. It seems to you that other people are avoiding you, and so that this does not hurt you, you begin to mentally belittle them. Justin Caoette and Amanda Guyer of the University of California, Davis, tested the emotional context insensitivity (ECI) hypothesis in 2015, which suggests that when you're depressed, you don't react as strongly to positive or negative events.

Caoette and Guyer tested this hypothesis with the help of students who were placed in such social conditions in which they felt that someone accepted them or, on the contrary, avoided them. Students whose responses indicated higher levels of depression had lower expectations of how others would treat them. Thus, they were less upset when they were rejected (after all, their expectations were already low). But even when people with high levels of depression were perceived favorably, their positive reactions were reduced.

Now that you know about the problem and its possible causes, let's look at six reasons to give someone a second chance:

1. Don't miss the opportunity to expand your horizons

Sometimes it can be difficult to communicate with people who are different from us. This manifests itself in stereotypes and prejudice. Overcome these stereotypes and you can learn a lot from people from a different social class or country. In addition, by gaining experience interacting with people who are different from you, you will be able to avoid this type of prejudice in the future.

2. The result may surprise you

If you are open enough to give someone a second chance, it may turn out that you didn't know them at all before. What if the person is not arrogant at all, but is simply embarrassed to make contact? In the future, you may discover a lot in common and develop a strong friendship.

3. You were in bad mood When did you decide to stop communicating with a person?

As Caoette and Guyer's research has shown, your mood can influence your perception of how others treat you. You were sad, so you made the wrong conclusions about the person. Good mood could completely change your perspective.

4. Sometimes the cause of a bad attitude is envy

If you can suppress this person's subjective sense of threat to your value in the group, you may learn why others value him so highly and take note of it.

5. Your opinion may have been influenced by the words of others.

Greg could have denigrated Sally for many reasons, one of which was jealousy. Greg wanted you to perceive Sally as negative light, and he was given more attention. Or maybe he just likes to talk nasty things about others.

6. Denying someone a second chance can have negative consequences.

It is not very useful to get rid of people who are necessary for work, communication or family. Be rude to a co-worker - this can negatively affect your career. As for family and friends, you will receive less and less invitations to meetings and celebrations.

If you give the person a second chance, the initial negative impression may turn out to be correct. However, the opposite can also happen - you will find new opportunities that you almost missed.

Territory of delusions [What mistakes do people make? smart people] Dobelli Rolf

Why First Impressions Are Misleading The Position Effect and the Recency Effect

Why first impressions are deceiving

Position effect and recency effect

Let me introduce you to two men: Alain and Ben. Decide without much thought which of them you like best. Alain is smart, diligent, impulsive, critical, stubborn, envious. Ben, on the contrary, is envious, stubborn, critical, impulsive, diligent, smart. Which one would you rather be stuck in an elevator with?

If you think like most people, you will choose Alain. Although their descriptions are absolutely the same. Our brain perceives the first adjective more strongly than all the following ones, and as a result it seems to you that there are two different characteristics. Alain is smart and diligent. Ben, on the other hand, is envious and stubborn. The first character trait overshadows all subsequent ones. This is the so-called positional effect or first impression effect.

If it weren't for positional effect, then company headquarters would not have to boast pompous but unproductive hallways. And then it wouldn’t matter what kind of shoes your lawyer came to the meeting in: unlaced sneakers or polished designer oxfords.

The positional effect leads to erroneous actions. Daniel Kahneman writes in his new book about how he graded exam papers early in his teaching career. Like most teachers, everyone works in turns: first one student, then another, and so on. This led to the fact that those students who gave excellent answers to the first questions aroused the sympathy of the teacher, which was reflected in the assessment of subsequent answers. Then Kahneman changed the order. First, he assigned a grade to all students for answering the first question, then to the second, and so on, thereby eliminating the influence positional effect.

Unfortunately, this approach is not always applicable. When hiring a new employee, you run the risk of hiring someone who made the best first impression. Ideally, you would line up all the applicants, ask everyone the same question at the same time, and immediately listen to simultaneous answers.

Let's say you're on the board of a company, and a subject about which you haven't yet made a judgment is already on the table. Then the opinion of the first speaker you hear will be decisive for your overall assessment. The same applies to other participants in the meeting. This is a valuable advantage worth taking advantage of: if you have an opinion, do not hesitate to speak first. At the same time, you will make an extraordinary impression on your colleagues and win them over to your side. If, on the other hand, you are the chairman of the meeting, ask participants to express their opinions in random order, otherwise the person who takes the floor first will have considerable influence on the others. True, it’s not always a matter of positional effect there is also an inverse recency effect(English) recency effect). Its essence is that the information received last is remembered better. This is explained by the small size of the cells of our short-term memory: as new blocks of information arrive, the old ones are forgotten.

In which case does it dominate? positional effect and when it prevails recency effect? Answer: when you need to do something immediately after a series of impressions, positional effect stronger. For example, in the case of Alain and Ben, you were forced to immediately make judgments about both individuals. If the impression remains in the past, then the recency effect. Remember the conversation you heard a few weeks ago - most likely, only fragments of its end, dotted fragments of memories remain in your memory.

Bottom line: The middle part of the impression is below average, whether it's the middle of a speech, a conversation with a customer, or a book. Don't judge things by first impression. One way or another, it will definitely deceive you. Try to evaluate all aspects of a person with an open mind. This is not easy, but in certain situations it is quite possible. During an interview, for example, I make notes to myself every five minutes and then calculate the average. This way I make sure that the “middle” applies equally to both the first and last impression.