Table of Contents
Every day, people meet each other. Whether it’s at a bar, a brunch, or a business meeting, those first few moments of contact are important in forming an initial impression in each other’s minds. These first impressions can be difficult to overcome, and thus they can be vital to the beginning stages of a relationship, be it professional, sexual, platonic, or otherwise. There are countless factors that influence how these first impressions are formed, among which is the context in which they occur. The setting, environment, or medium through which the initial interaction takes place, all change the expectations that one has in this preliminary stage.
Online (Non-sexual)
Social media has become a normal part of life for many Americans. For many, it is a way to communicate daily with friends and family. In terms of first impressions formed online, such as through Facebook or similar social media profiles, there were few differences in accuracy when compared to face-to-face interactions. A study done by Max Weisbuch, Zorana Ivcevic, and Nalini Ambady, examined “first impressions formed from personal webpages” in comparison with those formed from in-person meetings (n.d.). Some participants met with individuals, while some simply viewed their Facebook profiles.
These impressions reported similar views; for example, individuals “who displayed cues to social expressivity on their personal webpages also displayed nonverbal cues to social expressivity during the face-to-face interaction” and individuals “who displayed cues to social expressivity on their personal webpages also displayed nonverbal cues to social expressivity during the face-to-face interaction” (Weisbuch, Ivcevic, & Ambady, n.d.). There were very few, if any, differences in the impressions formed of the individuals’ character, meaning the difference between these two contexts might not be wide as one would think.
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Whereas it may be assumed that the two methods of interaction are too different to compare, as, for example, “the webpage perceiver is presented with a diversity of information in a static medium that eliminates spontaneous nonverbal behavior” while the face-to-face perceiver can absorb the more fluid nonverbal communication, the difference was not quite so apparent (Weisbuch, Ivcevic, & Ambady, n.d.).
In fact, the traits that each individual portrayed in person were reflected in their online profiles as well – the study found that “nonverbal expressivity and verbal self-disclosure were related to webpage expressivity and webpage disclosure, respectively” (Weisbuch, Ivcevic, & Ambady, n.d.). It seems that online profiles truly can be appropriate representations of an individual’s personality, and in this way, the medium through which it is observed has little influence on the impression formed.
Another study done tracked eye movement of participants as they viewed others’ online profiles (Seidman & Miller, 2013). The study found that profiles of attractive individuals were looked at for longer than those deemed unattractive; this occurred in both genders (Seidman & Miller, 2013). There was a difference in terms of the gender of the profile owner – both male and female participants were more interested in the photos of attractive women than their textual information, while the opposite was true for attractive men (Seidman & Miller, 2013). Regardless of man or woman, participants made “more effort to learn about physically attractive individuals” than their less attractive counterparts (Seidman & Miller, 2013). It would seem that, even in an online context that had nothing to do with dating, attractiveness was a pivotal trait in potentially making a strong impression.
Online (Sexual)
Knowing this, it is safe to assume that attractiveness is a large factor in forming initial impressions in the context of online dating. In many cases, physical attraction is the most immediate and obvious factor when analyzing a potential date online; whereas other traits, such as honesty or intelligence, may take time to notice, attractiveness is instantly visible. There is a total lack of nonverbal communication to be seen and interpreted by the one making judgments.
A study done analyzed how first impressions were formed in terms of how much time for thought was available to the participants (Sritharan, Heilpern, Wilbur, & Gawronski, 2010). Female participants looked at online dating profiles for men that had photographs and self-descriptions of themselves, including their life ambitions. In evaluations where the participants had time and encouragement to reflect on the traits of a desired relationship partner, the participants made judgments based on both; however, when the participants had less time to make the judgments, “the researchers found that spontaneous evaluations were influenced exclusively by the target’s attractiveness for the highly attractive and highly unattractive targets, but remained unaffected by the verbal information about the target’s behavior” (Sritharan, Heilpern, Wilbur, & Gawronski, 2010). When the participants had to make a gut feeling, it was only the attractiveness of the subject that led to their decision.
This is reinforced by another study, which separated profiles by profile picture and autobiography, done by Sierra Peters and Hannah Salzsieder (2018). One group of participants was given profile pictures, and the other group was given profile autobiographies (Peters & Salzsieder, 2018). Again, as expected, those who were physically attractive were given higher ratings; the interesting outcome, however, was the correlation between physical attractiveness and the attractiveness rating assigned to the same profiles’ autobiographies.
Those with high ratings “as more physically attractive also had personal descriptions that were rated as more attractive, even though different judges rated each target’s autobiography and pictures” (Peters & Salzsieder, 2018). The strongest correlation in personality traits in the autobiography was the trait of ambition: the higher the sense of ambition in the autobiography, the more attractive rating given (Peters & Salzsieder, 2018). Similarly to the platonic online context, attractiveness is a key factor in establishing a positive first impression. In addition to this, in the context of online dating, ambition also seems to play a key role in promoting a more attractive impression.
Professional
In the context of professional, in-person environments, non-verbal communication is especially vital in the formation of first impressions (Goman, 2009). The most well-known and expected of these behaviors, for many of us, is the handshake. A research study done to investigate the power of the handshake in this business context, and its effect on first impressions, was done and had interesting, gender-based findings (Chaplin, Phillips, Brown, Clanton, & Stein, 2000). It was found that “women who are more liberal, intellectual, and open to new experiences have a firmer handshake and make a more favorable impression,” whereas more open men “have a slightly less firm handshake and make a somewhat poorer impression than less open men” (Chaplin et al., 2000).
This gender difference is an interesting finding in this context.The firm female handshake, which may traditionally be described as anti-feminine, in the context of business has a positive effect on the development of this initial impression in a way that might, in other circles, be viewed negatively. It would be interesting to see further first impression studies done on the presence of traditionally masculine traits in women, and the effect this has in the business world.
Conclusion
There do not seem to be easy-to-find differences in how specific contexts influence how one is viewed. There are many studies done that look at certain personality factors and their influence on first impressions; in fact, there was a deliberate attempt done to not oversaturate this paper with these plentiful articles and studies. Where research is few and far between is in treating the location or environment as the study’s independent variable. For example, if groups of participants were to meet a small group of confederates in several different settings, and see how these confederates were rated by the participants. This research would be both interesting and potentially useful to those trying to improve their social favorability.
