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Psychobitesize - Don't Judge a Book By It's Cover
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There are several issues associated with our brains outstanding ability to make judgements:
When do we use it?
We make snap judgements about others everyday, and generally believe in using our intuition. Social events such as speed dating rely entirely on the concept that a few minutes is enough to evaluate your compatibility with someone Business interactions are full of first impressions. 9/10 times, the person you’re meeting for the first time has already formed an impression of you from your previous communications
Why do we do it?
There are a number of possibilities as to why we make these judgements, even when we are forcing ourselves not to. The most likely is that this reaction was once useful to us.
There is social importance in detecting attributes like emotion, age, identity and genetic fitness. This was particularly true in the past and we have therefore created a strong tendency to respond to the facial qualities that reveal these attributes . Humans may well have retained some ability to decide quickly whether a person is likely to harm us or enrich us. These judgements may once have been life-saving
Initial encounters are emotionally concentrated events, where a huge number of clues about a person hit us at once. ‘Thin slices’ on which we judge others, are generated in the most primitive part of the brain where feelings are processed and this may account for our sometimes immediate emotional reaction
Are we right to judge?
There are really two questions here – are we morally right to judge on first impression and are we actually right in our judgements? Putting aside moral debate, what data is there to look at our accuracy?
The Positives…
Amazingly, there is some clear evidence that we can be quite astute in our split second decisions. We can pick up a smile from 30 metres away and research demonstrates consensual first impressions of traits based on facial appearance. In short, people’s initial impressions are similar and pick up on the same key features.
Kenny’s work in the 1980s showed that using the
five-factor model, people’s first impressions of
strangers correlated significantly with their
self-ratings, especially in the areas of extroversion
and conscientiousness.
Ambady asked students to rate teachers based on 6-second video clips and then compared their perceptions to those of students who had taken their classes. The results showed that even after 6 seconds, students could accurately predict the most successful teachers
Work done by Ekman continues to show that are initial impressions can be powerfully accurate. Our unconscious sifting of body language tells us a lot about strangers, we just may not know how!
The Negatives…
There are several issues associated with our brains outstanding ability to make judgements:
1. Our brains are prejudice
Our brains are pre-determined to believe stereotypes,
whether or not we believe these in our conscious mind.
This means we are less able to make snap judgements
in certain situations. The classic example here is
racial discrimination – our brain processes cues given
by a white individual differently to an individual of another race. Evidence shows we find it much more difficult to judge those from other cultures . Other elements also have effects - we are more accurate predictors when we are happy than when we are sad for example.
This leaves us open to manipulation. Jury consultants now teach defendants how to influence juries through what they wear, how they speak and gestures. Attractive defendants are perceived as more credible and dodge jail more often.
2. Our judgements impact others
The way that we judge others can affect them and society’s view as a whole. Particular physical qualities give rise to behavioural expectations. These may actually create true relationships between appearance and traits due the effects of self-fulfilling prophecy. We tend to over generalise particular qualities to those with particular characteristics . For example, those with ‘baby faces’ are cute, sweet and delicate.
This has the effect of perpetuating this belief and making the individual believe they are these things. Continuing to judge purely on first impressions means that those who do not fit ideals can be ridiculed – the root cause of most bullying in schools is appearance.
3. Sometimes we’re just wrong
Dangerous people are often able to fool the senses. One of the most common things said about serial killers is that they were ‘really normal’. Serial killer Ted Bundy held down two long-term relationships during the time he was murdering women. The most visible and salient aspects of a personality can distract us . In research, most people cannot tell if someone is feigning an emotion
Perhaps more importantly, not all people have the same capacity to accurately judge first impressions. People vary in their social intelligence. Why not try yours out?! Take the Test Here.
