Clinging to First Impressions

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Recommended: Impression formation theory

Section 1

The concept I am going to discuss is clinging to first impressions. Clinging to first impressions means that when we originally meet someone, we decide what they are like from that one time of meeting them. A first impression is what causes someone to like or not like someone depending on the kind of person they get along with. Interplay states, “If our impressions are accurate, they can be useful ways of deciding how to respond best to people in the future (124).” Carlin Flora compares a first impression to a Polaroid picture of someone that never fades. This analogy is a metaphor to describe how a first impression sticks with someone. They never go away and stay with someone to be judged every time you see them after that. Interplay also mentions that impressions can be wrong about someone but instead of trying to fix it, we still tend to cling to it.

One of the reasons for developing an impression is the halo effect. Interplay states, the halo effect is when someone uses one positive characteristic to develop an overall impression of them. Flora mentions that only a short amount of time is necessary to make an impression on someone. Interplay states that attractiveness is one such characteristic that can be used to develop an overall characteristic. Flora believes that many of our impressions that are developed are made from stereotypes we have developed. Audra Lukaitis and Bill Davey also suggest that impressions are also important in websites and business. By impressions being important in the business field will be the reason if someone makes the deal or not. In their research it showed

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that a good impression of a website also helped with getting a hotel the business of a traveler. This is also ...

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...al Communication. 11th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print

Casriel, Erika. "STEPPING OUT." Psychology Today 40.2 (2007): 68-75. Psychology and Behavioral Science Collection. Web. 18 June 2010.

Flora, Carlin. "THE ONCE-OVER CAN YOU TRUST FIRST IMPRESSIONS?" Psychology Today 37.3 (2004): 60-66. Psychology and Behavioral Science Collection. Web. 16 June 2010.

Lukaitis, Audra, and Bill Davey. "Capturing the Mature Traveler: Assesing Web First Impressions." Issues in Informing Science & Information Technology 6 (2009): 845-53. Academic One File. Web. 20 June 2010.

Plante, Thomas G., Meghan Madden, Sonia Mann, Grace Lee, Allison Hardesty, Nick Gable, Allison Terry, and Greg Kaplow. "Effects of Perceived Fitness Level of Exercise PArtner on Intensity of Exertion." Journal of Social Sciences 6.1 (2010): 50-54. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 June 2010.

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