A substantial number of people believe thier first impressions of people. Although I agree that first impressions are sometimes corret, I strongly support the idea that first impressions cannot express people's charateristics because people's physical appearance cannot show their intrinsic value and first impressions are affected a lot by the situation at that time.
To begin with, It is obvious that people's appearances tell only a few of their personality. That is, their appearances might not match with their mind. For instance, my uncle have big eyes, a beard and many scars on his face. So, when those who see him for the first time think that he is real he-man and brave. However, unlike their empressions, he is pessimistic and have quiet voice. Morover he is scared of insects such as moskito. As this example, a person's persnality are not exactly evaluated by first impressions.
In addition, first impressions are depended on the situation, such as psychological conditions of people who judge other people, the envirenment at that time. It can lead distorted perspective about other person. For example, a study indicated that although people saw the same person, they have different first impressions of the person according to the background. Professor show a picture, which a girl in the old, dirty house to five university students. And then, professor show the same girl in different background, amusement park with small baloon in her hand, to a diffrent group. When professor asked their feeling when the subjects saw the girl in the picture, the first group said she looks poor and introverted. On the contrary, the second group mentioned that she might be smart and outgoing. As the study shows, a person can be judged differntly depend on the situation. This proves that first impressions are not trustworthy.
In conclusion, I strongly belive that first impression don't show people's actual personality because people are not able to a person's personality with a small part of him. further more people might mislead other person by the situation when they see the person at first. For these reason, it is risky to evaluate people with thier first impressions.
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