According to some studies, first impression plays an important role in deciding to make relationship with other people. However, I don't agree that first impressions tell a lot about people because of people's wariness and showing different reaction suited for a certain situation.
First of all, People don't reveal their real personal character when they meet people for the first time. This is because people feel wariness from stranger like that animals are cautious of exterior invaders. For this reason, people hide their personality and start to keep a close eye on the strangers. Then, if people conclude the stranger is good enough to have more close relationship, people start to show their real nature. From my experience, when meeting new people, I usually don't talk much with the strangers. Instead, I observe them carefully and grasp what kind of people they are. After for a long time observing, I choose wether I become their friend or not, and If I want to be their friend, I little by little reveal myself for them. This meas that it is impossible for stranger to know who I am before I decide to show my real personality. Therefore, first impressions can not be a significant tool when we explain about someone else.
Secondly, People react each situation differently. In other words, according to situation which we face or people we meet, we have to deal with the situation with different manners to solve face situation effectively. Thus, to know who the strange is, you should spend long time and experience various situation with the strangers. To illustrate this, my younger sister is talkative, hot-tempered and sometimes rude when she is with her friends. However, working in the company, she changes herself into polite, kind and quite women because she should deal with her customers and boss. If she maintain her rude and violent personality in her work place, she would be fired because not taking suitable attitude for a certain situation. Likewise, people should show different attitude and character.
For this reason, first impression is too lack to judge a person because it is just a part of their character.
To summarize, People show their different personality according to each situation. Further more, Most people do not reveal their true personality in the first meeting because of alertness against strangers. Therefore I am against that first impression show a lot about people. |