Hello marketinglady-ga,
Just as you indicated, there are a lot of articles in the business
press regarding various very short time frames for the hiring
decision. Some of these are directed at the interviewer and caution
about the dangers of making snap decisions in hiring while others are
directed at the candidate and emphasize the importance of making a
good first impression. Despite a lot of searching, I could not come up
with a credible research report to back up any of the articles ? even
the ones that refer to such reports.
Doing this research reminded me of a book that I read a very long time
ago that claimed people made the decision about the prospects for a
relationship in the first four minutes. I next checked to see if
anyone was conducting research on first impressions. I discovered that
Malcolm Gladwell?s current book, Blink, addresses snap decision-making
and gives some examples, including the job interview situation. I also
discovered that there has been some academic research on the subject.
Tufts Professor Nalini Ambady?s research is referenced by Gladwell and
it?s been widely reported in the business and trade press. Research
she conducted while at Harvard showed that student ratings of
professors based on 10 seconds long video snippets were comparable to
ratings made by students after a semester of class attendance. I?ve
included several references to Professor Ambady?s research.
In addition, I also found some reports on recent research on students
participants done by Michael Sunnafrank of the University of Minnesota
and Artemio Ramirez Jr. of Ohio State University that showed that
short encounters of as little as three minutes can predict how a
relationship will develop. I?ve included some links to these reports
as well.
These current research projects on the accuracy of first impressions
seems to bear out the anecdotal literature on the importance of first
impressions in job interviewing. I hope that this information will be
helpful for you.
Wishing you all the best.
~ czh ~
http://www.human-dynamics.com/we_are_reading.html
Contact: The First Four Minutes by Leonard Zunin MD, Natalie Zunin
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http://www.gladwell.com/blink/
BLINK: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
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http://www.gladwell.com/2000/2000_05_29_a_interview.htm
May 29, 2000
DEPT. OF HUMAN RESOURCES
The New-Boy Network
What do job interviews really tell us?
What convinced Ballmer he wanted Myers? A glimpse! He caught a little
slice of Nolan Myers in action and--just like that--the C.E.O. of a
four-hundred-billion-dollar company was calling a college senior in
his dorm room. Ballmer somehow knew he liked Myers, the same way Hadi
Partovi knew, and the same way I knew after our little chat at Au Bon
Pain. But what did we know? What could we know? By any reasonable
measure, surely none of us knew Nolan Myers at all.
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http://cms.psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=pto-20040713-000004
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1175/is_3_37/ai_n6094695
The once-over
Summary: Can you trust first impressions?
Psychology Today, May-June, 2004 by Carlin Flora
Consider one study in which untrained subjects were shown 20- to
32-second videotaped segments of job applicants greeting interviewers.
The subjects then rated the applicants on attributes such as
self-assurance and likability. Surprisingly, their assessments were
very close to those of trained interviewers who spent at least 20
minutes with each applicant. What semblance of a person?one with a
distinct appearance, history and complex personality?could have been
captured in such a fleeting moment?
***** This article also discusses Professor Ambady?s findings as well
as some research on facial expression.
-------------------------------------------------
http://www.radford.edu/~applyhrm/2002/MS%20_7_1%20Levine.pdf
Women and Men?s Nonverbal Behavior and Self-Monitoring in a Job Interview Setting
Sara Pollak Levine Fitchburg State College Robert S. Feldman
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Applied H.R.M. Research, 2002, Volume 7, Number 1, 1-14
***** This is the study that is quoted in the Psychology Today article.
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http://www.tuftsdaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/02/03/4201c94035841
Published February 03, 2005
Psych prof's research featured in various publications
Professor Ambady analyzes first impressions in blink of an eye
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http://bworld.net/oe01212005/Opinion/opinion1.html
MANILA, PHILIPPINES
Friday-Saturday, January 21-22, 2005
Why first impressions last
Take this unique experiment performed by psychologist Nalini Ambady.
She showed students three 10-second video tapes of a teacher holding
court in a classroom, then asked the viewers to rate the teacher's
effectiveness. Then she showed the same teacher to the same viewers in
five-second video clips. Their assessment of the teacher's
effectiveness remained the same.
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http://www.nicholasboothman.com/first_impressions.htm
People tend to trust and like you when they feel comfortable with you
on an unconscious level.
How long does it take people to decide if they like me or not?
Two seconds. Dr. Nalini Ambady of the Harvard School of Health
Sciences made a stunning discovery during a study of the nonverbal
aspects of good teaching. After videotaping hundreds of classroom
hours, Doctor Ambady showed one group of students a two-second clip of
unfamiliar teachers with the sound turned off. Then she gave this
group as well as a second group of students who had spent an entire
semester studying under these teachers a checklist of educational
attributes and asked them to rate the teachers. Both sets of students
came to almost identical conclusions about the teachers thus
demonstrating the power of first impressions.
-------------------------------------------------
http://www.readersdigest.co.uk/magazine/firstimp.htm
How to Make a Dynamite First Impression By Doug Colligan
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http://www.d.umn.edu/unirel/homepage/05/firstimpressions.html
UMD's Sunnafrank Says it Takes Only Minutes to Decide if a Relationship Will Last.
You interview someone for a job, or you are introduced to someone at a
restaurant. How long does it take you to form a first impression? The
answer is something TV's Discovery Channel wants to find out. They
came to the UMD campus on February 3, 2005, to interview Michael
Sunnafrank, from the UMD Department of Communication about his
research on first impressions. According to a new study by Sunnafrank
and Artemio Ramirez Jr. of Ohio State University, it can take a little
as three minutes to determine how a relationship will progress. In a
survey of 164 college freshmen, the two professors found that first
impressions had a strong influence on future relationships.
-------------------------------------------------
http://www.d.umn.edu/comm/facultystaff/msunnafrank.php
Michael Sunnafrank
-------------------------------------------------
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=69942&page=1
Study: First Impressions Really Matter
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https://hrnet.uihr.uillinois.edu/dart-cf/index.cfm?Item_ID=1877
Ensure that job requirements are the dominant selection criterion.
Research indicates that most interviewers have made up their minds
about a candidate within the first four minutes of the interview and
according to the Wall Street Journal, seventy percent of the hiring
decision is made based on initial impressions. However, first
impressions based on emotions, biases, chemistry, personality, and
stereotyping cause more hiring errors than any other single factor.
Don't allow hiring deadlines to interfere with hiring decisions.
Taking the time needed to make the right hiring decision can save
money and time in the long run. Rushing interview preparation time,
rushing the interview and rushing the hiring decision are some of the
pressures associated with short hiring deadlines. Additionally,
research indicates that if the interviewer is under pressure to hire a
candidate, then there is a tendency to overrate all the candidates.
***** This is a sample of the many articles on the subject of first
impressions in job interviewing.
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first impressions psychology research
"first impressions" research hiring decision
study shown videotaped segments job interview |
