First impressions-those snap decisions or reactions one receives when one meets someone for the first time-are long considered some of the most powerful and rapid responses we have to social interaction. They are supposed to be reliable, a type of instinctive gut feeling which informs us everything we need to know about a person. But if we move outside the psychology behind these snap decisions, we immediately find that first impressions can not only not be relied on but can actually be positively dangerous.

While it is true that humans are wired to leap to conclusions about others in an attempt to successfully navigate complicated social universes, the default mechanism is far from infallible. In fact, first impressions are perhaps underpinned by a host of cognitive biases, emotional triggers, and social influences that work together to distort perception. This article shall explore the reasons why first impressions are generally wrong by discussing the psychological mechanism behind first impressions, how they can lead one down the wrong garden path, and why they need to be approached with caution.

 The Science Behind First Impressions

Your subconscious, instinctive checks begin as a person comes into view for the very first time. It is an analysis of an appearance, posture, voice, even suggestions of a facial expression flash through the processing centre within the brain-a split second consideration. This tends to be instinctively fast, rooted in preprogrammed stereotypes and or conditioners that make us place him or her instantly into one compartment or another to which we are habituated-friend or foe, ally or adversary.

While this necessity of requirement certainly is quite vital in the sense that it enables us to move through social interaction with ease, it also leads us to make unnecessary value judgments based on so many superficial or irrelevant characteristics. Psychologists describe how such first impressions are based upon heuristics-mental short cuts which our minds utilize to make quicker decisions. These short cuts, however, can be misleading. Our minds love to jump to conclusions based on limited information, and that leads us to miss rich nuances that are the outcome of continued interaction.

One seminal work by Princeton psychologist Susan Fiske examined how people form first impressions from a glance at the person’s behavior and appearance. People begin to form an impression about an individual within seconds of meeting the person on dimensions such as warmth and competence, the study said. First impressions are so strong that they can lead us to judge an individual’s behavior later on, even though the behavior is opposite to the first impression.

The Halo Effect: A Cognitive Bias

Impression is sometimes misleading due to the halo effect. It is a cognitive bias wherein we allow one good or bad characteristic in a person to dominate our perception of his or her other characteristics. If someone is very handsome or charming, for instance, we will assume that he is intelligent, nice, or capable without any valid external reason to do so. Similarly, when a person performs some act which gives us an unfavorable first impression of him or her-say because he is ill mannered or awkward-we think that the individual just must have some other disagreeable qualities buried somewhere in his or her makeup.

The halo effect is an unconscious bias that acts on the basis of incomplete information. It is what makes us overgeneralize individuals based on their exterior qualities, such as physical aspect or talk. While at times it can make us have a very positive initial impression, it also leads us to misjudge individuals and denies us the chance of discovering their interior worlds.

Confirmation Bias: The Search for Evidence to Confirm Our Initial Impressions

Once an impression has been formed, we seek out confirming evidence that will help to justify, or confirm, our initial judgment through what is called confirmation bias. It is a potent psychological phenomenon in that it distorts and twists our perception of another person. If we decide that someone is conceited based on a first encounter, we may then unconsciously focus on all of their subsequent actions that reinforce this perception at the expense of instances where they have been thoughtful or modest. If, on the other hand, a person creates an extremely positive first impression, we will tend to ignore behavior on their part that is inconsistent with our initial assessment.

It is most perilous because, in confirmation bias, we make human beings mere caricatures of their real selves with the most superficial impressions about them. And instead of keeping our selves open for being changed or reshaped again and again with regard to a particular judgment about someone, it makes us go on verifying some already rendered incomplete or wrong judgments about him/her.

 Stereotyping: The Risks of simplification

Another psychological process in the making of first impressions is stereotyping. Human beings naturally classify people based on physical appearance, such as gender, race, age, or class. Grouping in such a manner enables us to make judgments instantaneously but also enforces prejudiced tendencies in us that lead to the misinterpretation of the actual intent or character of people.

With as much as the stereotypes are concerned about general patterns within society, it cannot consider particularities of individual individuals. Thus, fitting any person into stereotype makes us way from covering a person that stands in front of us in order for us to realize who he is. Stereotypes have ways of making people jump to very wrong and even unfair conclusions at first sight whenever situations avail.

For example, if you happen to come across an individual who perfectly fits into a certain stereotype-a woman of a particular age in a working environment and handsome, too-you will immediately make the assumption that she is less capable or committed compared to the male worker in the same organization. The stereotypical assumption would create an undeserved first impression that does not consider the individual’s competence, experience, or commitment.

Emotional Reactions: The Magic of Gut Feelings

The “gut feeling” or an affective response that humans create while making judgment calls about other individuals can be monumental, and most first impressions are derived from these kinds of responses. Affective responses, on the other hand, rely on past experience and unconscious memories we might not remember. For instance, when one is presented with an individual who resembles another person that he did not get along with the first time he met, he may instantly become suspicious despite the fact that there is absolutely no reason for him to be so.

This is an affective bias because it is a distortion of our initial impression because we are allowing a feeling of like, discomfort, or even fear to make the judgment. The problem is feelings are generally transient and may not be relevant for the present circumstances. A person can innocently bring up deep-seated feelings unrelated to them, yet the feelings can carry a great deal of weight when forming our impression of them.

Social Influence: Group Pressure

One’s first impression is also susceptible to social pressure. We are social animals and will most probably go by what other human beings judge and hold to be true. If some other person in the same room has formed a very clear first impression of a person-negative or positive-we would tend to agree with that judgment without ever having had adequate time for the impression formation process ourselves. This can most clearly be seen in groups, where groupthink can lead a group as a whole to misjudge a human being.

Social influences are everywhere and can easily contaminate our view of another human being. We’re going to be more likely to ignore warning signs that this person isn’t all that great when we’re in a group, surrounded by others who are taken in by someone’s status or charismatic charm. In cases where status or popularity is valued over depth within the group, that pressure will lead to biased first impressions.

Risks Involved in the Use of First Impressions

Perhaps the greatest risk involved in making judgments based on first sight is that it leads to losing out on perhaps a more enriching relationship or shortchanging someone when it really matters. Whenever one judges people by their appearance, they lose out on an opportunity to realize what the person is like from the inside. This eventually results in dysfunctional personal and professional relationships due to holding on to the wrong impressions or pushing people away for the wrong reason of a misinterpreted first impression.

A hasty decision in business may result in discriminatory hiring, where a person who seems most affable gets hired instead of a candidate who may be best for the job. A first impression in life can cause us to deny a person an opportunity to illustrate to us who they are as a person.

First impressions, as much as they are a natural part of human interaction, should not be too influential in the building of opinions concerning people. They are bound to be prejudicial, emotionally stirred, and mentally short-sighted to take in a whole picture of a person. Rather, lengthier interactions are called for-time and circumstance allowed to reveal what a person is actually like in its entirety.