HOW WE FORM IMPRESSION OF OTHERS

You quickly form impression of people whom you meet. It is a general tendency of human being to quickly form first impressions of others. Did you do? We develop our Beliefs and evaluations of other people. We know very well that the first impressions about others are very important. It is said that the “First impression is the last impression”. The first impressions you make on others will generally shape the course of your future relations with others in important ways. Once our impression is formed, it is generally resistant to change. So, it is necessary to us to be careful on our first interaction, dates, meetings, interviews and other situations in which we will meet others for the first time.

It is notable point that we form impression of others very quickly and without any mental effort, often on the basis of limited amounts of information (for example their facial appearance, way of clothing, walking, behaving and talking etc). This impression has Considerable practical importance in our romantic relationships, business meeting, in school and colleges, in society, and other professional relationships.

But do you know how we form impression of others and how others form impression of us?

There are different ways through which we form impression of others;

• We generally hold a belief about what traits; characteristics of a person are going together. For example, if someone describes our new friend as “creative” and “sincere” we would also assume him to be intelligent. Similarly, if our seniors describe our college professor as ”organized’’ and “control” person, we would also assume him/her to be perfectionist. Our views and beliefs are often so strong that we will sometimes shape our impression of other people to be consistent with them. We often form impressions of others that reflect our beliefs rather than their actual characteristics and traits.    

• It is interesting to note that we weight negative information about others more strongly than positive information.    

• When we form impression others, we recall examples of their behavior and then make our impression and our judgment on those peoples. For e.g., we recall that during our first interaction with our classmate, how he was arrogant, made criticism of his friends, and did not help to sick person. We will recall all these bits of information and conclude that this person posses the trait of “inconsideration.    

• The information that describes behavior or traits of a person that are unusual or extreme are more valued and weighted.    

• Do you know early information has a stronger impact on us than later information? For example; if someone describes our boss or teacher as a dominant personality we tends to be weighted these information more heavily than information received later.  

• We tend to pay more attention toward information from trustable source. The information from person we trust or admire (such as parents, friends, wife etc) is weighted more heavily and seriously than information from person we distrust.

• Our Impressions of Others are largely shaped by Their Nonverbal Behavior such as facial expression, body movements, etc.

These are the some ways through which we form impression of other. In the upcoming article we will discuss about the ways through you can produce your favorable and positive impression on other.
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