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A teacher walks into the room and the students decide that this will be a good class. A jury gets its first look at the defendant and without hearing any testimony, the jurors all know she is guilty. A job applicant hasn’t even started his interview yet the manager knows he’s the right person for the job.

How did the students, the jurors, and the manager make their impression?

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We are assuming……….• We know all there is to know about the situation

that the other person is in. • We are assuming that whatever history of

experience they have personally had leading up to the present, it is either insignificant, or, the same as our own .

• We are assuming that their action speaks for itself as if every action which a person takes has a specific meaning which never changes no matter where that action is taken, with whom it is taken, or, under the circumstances it is taken.

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• We are assuming that the feelings, or lack of feeling, expressed by the other person particularly relates to the values we associate with that feeling.

• We believe that we know the other person as if they were ourselves.

• We award them the honor of our experience, traumas, ability to perceive and to express --- or lack thereof, and our obsessions and compulsions.

• We assume that they operate under the same expectations, needs, and assumptions that we do.

• That is a lot of assumptions!

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How people form Impressions.

• Factors associated with the person being judged.

• Factors associated with the situation.

• Factors associated with the person making the judgment.

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1. Factors Associated With the Person Being Judged.

• ATTRACTIVENESS: First thing we notice about people is their physical attraction. Important factor in how an applicant is perceived in and employment interview, how a defendant is judged by a jury, how well a speaker is able to persuade an audience, how as student is perceived by a a teacher and how a politician is evaluated by voters.

• SIMILARITY: We form positive impressions of people who are similar to us in terms of personality, attitudes, values and sense of humor.

• NONVERBAL CUES: A persons nonverbal cues play a huge role in the impressions we form of others.

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To enhance your attractiveness in a job interview, experts recommend the following.

• Wear conservative colors.• Avoid wearing accessories such as flashy

large earrings and brightly colored ties.• Hair should be worn conservatively.• Shoes should be well polished and

conservative.• Don’t chew gum!

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2. Factors Associated With the Situation

• PROXIMITY: The idea behind the mere exposure is that the more often we see someone or something , the more positive we become toward that person or thing.

• CLASSICAL CONDITIONING: People associate us with the people we are with and the environment we are in.

• MISATTRIBUTION: The idea behind misattribution is that physiologically most of our emotions are the same.

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3. Factors Associated With the Person Making the Judgment.

• SCHEMAS: The way we organize material in our minds, and they are different for every person.

• JUST WORLD HYPOTHESIS: Is an irrational belief that we live in a ‘just world’ where good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people.

• POSITIVITY BIAS: For most people , inclination is to think positively when we first meet. The reason being is that if we are going to spend time with someone we would prefer that we enjoy that time.

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How Do We Weight Information

• PRIMACY: Our first impression carry more weight than subsequent impressions.

• CONTRAST EFFECTS: Our impression of one person may affect our impressions of the next person we encounter.

• NEGATIVE–INFORMATION BIAS : Negative information weighs more heavily than positive information.

• PRIMING: Our impressions of others are often affected by what we hear about them prior to meeting them, that is , prior information primes us for what is to come.

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• RELEVANCE: In forming an impression of others , we place more weight on information that is relevant than we do on irrelevant information.

• UNUSAUAL INFORMATION: We place more weight on information that is unusual than we do routine information.

• RECENCY : Recency impressions carry additional weight too in addition to primacy.

• ATTRIBUTION: When we attribute the cause of a behavior to a person, we make internal attribution. When we attribute the cause to such things as chance or external factors (e.g. the room was crowed ) we make an external attribution.

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Trying To Manage Impressions• INGRATIATION: One method that we use to get others to

like us is to ingratiate ourselves by complimenting the other person.

• SELF PROMOTION: Is an attempt to get others to think we are competent.

• INTIMIDATION: We impress people by throwing around our weight.

• EXEMPLIFICATION: With exemplification , we manage impressions by sacrificing , helping others and being a martyr.

• SUPPLIFICATION: This the opposite of intimidation , in which we try to give the impression that we are weak.