Dear qpet-ga;
Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question.
The answer to your question depends on who is doing the evaluating and
who is holding the stopwatch. In fact, in all likelihood, the
specified time of “ten seconds” is probably a myth but there does
appear to be some evidence that the period is quite brief.
In this study, done by the University of Alabama and published in
JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, a trained person can
accurately tell a host of things about a person he has never met from
the clues found in his initial handshake. According to the study,
these predictable traits are consistent, but differ slightly from one
gender to another.
JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
http://www.apa.org/journals/psp/psp791110.html
Dr. Marianne LaFrance, director of the study First Impressions and
Hair Impressions, and Professor of Psychology and Professor of Women's
and Gender Studies at Yale University, says that one has only three
seconds to make a good first impression. Her research, she says, ties
many of the initial perceptions strangers have of us is based largely
(if not exclusively) on the impact our hairstyle makes on our new
acquaintance.
BAD HAIR DAYS: WORSE THAN YOU THOUGHT!
http://www.fastmpr.com/HAIRT.HTM
Those who train others on how to conduct successful job interviews
seem to subscribe to this “ten-second rule” (some more liberal ones
say it is actually 90 seconds) and virtually all of them I found cited
“studies” which confirmed this notion. None of them I saw however
cited the actual name of the study or referred us to it for reference.
1st IMPRESSIONS
http://www.kingsworkforce.org/first_impressions.htm
This article, however, does mention a study and offers statistics. It
indicates that 55% of our first impression is motivated by physical
appearance alone. 38% is based on the way we sound (tone, expression,
etc.) and only 7% is based on what we actually say. The article
doesn’t specify how long this impression takes to form an opinion but
cites its source, in a footnote, as being a 1972 study of non-verbal
communication by sociolinguist Dr. Albert Mehrabian (professor, UCLA).
FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE LASTING IMPRESSIONS
http://www.agecon.msstate.edu/abi_test/newsletter/200111.pdf
It appears then that people tend to have certain generalizations about
life, gender, race, etc. Their model of life is filled with
generalizations and stereotypes. If they “believe” something to be so,
either through life experience or past influences, to them, at least,
it becomes factual. The preconceived notions that we naturally have
are then applied to the characteristics of those we meet. We use what
is “known” as a gauge by which we measure those we are trying to learn
more about. The key here is to be able to cull the “known” information
that is logically useful to us from that which is not. A man with an
earring in his lower lip, for example might initially impress upon us
that the person is radical, and we might associate that with
belligerence, disobedience or someone who tends to think “outside the
box”. We might mentally justify this by assuming his behavior is odd
therefore he, too, must be odd. This, of course, is not necessarily
the case, and the majority of us know this in the back of our minds –
but its how you process this logic which determines the fair shake.
In the legal profession, the notion that people’s first impressions
are brief and lasting is referred to as “primacy”. The rule is that
what a person first believes, they will continue to believe. Now while
this doesn’t proof or disprove that a person forms his opinion in ten
seconds or less, it does suggest that if a person brings certain
preconceived notions to the table that such opinions would be more
easily formed in that amount of time. Since we know that people make
personal opinions of others based on subjective experience, and that
they tend to validate these opinions using their own form of logic
(however authentic or ridiculous their logic may seem), it would seem
then that the normal time it takes to render a decision about a
person’s character varies from one individual to another. Still
others, who subscribe to the “benefit of the doubt” rule make no
decision at all unless something arises which makes them think
negatively about the person they are meeting for the first time.
First impressions are indeed powerful and it goes without saying that
the negative aspects of a first impression have a much greater impact
that the positive ones. As proof, consider this: A person who is
believed to be competent is more easily forgiven for a mistake than
one who is perceived to be incompetent. We justify this by saying that
the competent person calls into the “everyone is entitled to make
mistakes” school of thought, but the incompetent person falls into the
“I told you so” category. WE make excuses for THEIR successes and
failures in order to confirm our opinion of them. If, for example, a
person we perceive to be competent cannot read a document you handed
to them, we might initially think the light is poor or the document is
unclear. A person we perceive to be incompetent is merely too stupid
to grasp the information. These are the types of impressions we form,
and in many cases we form these opinions immediately, based on the
generalizations and stereotypes we are all too ready to call upon.
The bottom line is this, first impressions are definitely important.
They are certainly long lasting and there is only a brief window of
opportunity to us to engrave a mental summary of ourselves on the mind
of others. Exactly how long does this take? Well, that appears to be a
matter of opinion.
Below you will find that I have carefully defined my search strategy
for you in the event that you need to search for more information. By
following the same type of searches that I did you may be able to
enhance the research I have provided even further. I hope you find
that that my research exceeds your expectations. If you have any
questions about my research please post a clarification request prior
to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating and your final
comments and I look forward to working with you again in the near
future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga
INFORMATION SOURCES
JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
http://www.apa.org/journals/psp/psp791110.html
BAD HAIR DAYS: WORSE THAN YOU THOUGHT!
http://www.fastmpr.com/HAIRT.HTM
1st IMPRESSIONS
http://www.kingsworkforce.org/first_impressions.htm
FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE LASTING IMPRESSIONS
http://www.agecon.msstate.edu/abi_test/newsletter/200111.pdf
SEARCH STRATEGY
SEARCH ENGINE USED:
Google ://www.google.com
SEARCH TERMS USED:
"ALBERT MEHRABIAN" IMPRESSION SECONDS
“FIRST IMPRESSIONS” SECONDS
“FIRST PERCEPTIONS” SECONDS
“INITIAL IMPRESSION” SECONDS
“INITIONAL PERCEPTIONS” SECONDS
Alternatively, I substituted the term “seconds” with the term
“studies” and “study”. |
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