Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation,

FSBEI HPE "Cherepovets State University",

Institute of Pedagogy and Psychology,

Department of Psychology

Coursework

“Factors in forming the first impression of a person”

Completed:

Student of group 4ZPS-21

Checked:

Head Caf. Khromov V.V.

Introduction……………………………………………………. .………3

Chapter I FIRST IMPRESSION OF ANOTHER PERSON.

Determination of the formation of the firstimpressions………………………4

Factors in forming a first impression…………………………. ..10

The first impression of a person as a phenomenon of interpersonal perception……………………………………………………………….

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….17

Chapter II

DEVELOPMENT, PROGRESS AND METHODS FOR STUDYING FIRST IMPRESSIONS IN SENIOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN.

Empirical programresearch………………………...19
The purpose of the empiricalresearch ..................... .................................. 22

Conclusion......................... ........................ ...... ......................... .........23

Chapter III RESULTS OF EMPIRICAL RESEARCH.

Conclusion ......................... .............................. .............................. .................28

Conclusion …………………………………………………… …..……31

Literature .................... .............................. .............................. ...............33

INTRODUCTION:

This work is devoted to the problem of the first impression of another person in older children. preschool age.

In everyday life, in work and non-work environments, every person has to meet new people. In many cases, circumstances develop in such a way that, based on short-term perception alone, we are forced to evaluate these people and choose what seems to us the most reasonable way of behavior and action in relation to each of them. In all such cases, we are dealing with the so-called first impression and with acts of behavior based on it.

The problem of forming a first impression was intensively developed in Russian psychology within the framework of the social-perceptual approach, starting from the 60-70s of the 20th century in the works of A.A. Bodalev and V.N. Panferov, and then their followers (A.G. Guseva, B N. Kunitsyna, K. D. Shafranskaya, P. M. Yakobson and many others).

Currently, this issue is being intensively developed within the framework of the psychosemiotic approach to communication, developed in the works of E.A. Petrova and her students (R.E. Vardanyan, M.N. Kotlyarova, A.A. Rodionova, A.A. Romanova, I.P. Chertykova, etc.). Works in this direction show that the main sources of visual information and indicators of personality are sign systems of external appearance. The meanings of individual visual signs are interpreted interconnectedly when forming a first impression: complementing each other, or generating new information, or turning out to be an insignificant nuance of communication.

To study the phenomenon of first impression, it is necessary to reveal the specifics of perception stranger at various stages of human development.

CHAPTER I. FIRST IMPRESSION OF ANOTHER PERSON.

Forming a first impression

The physiological mechanism of forming the first impression is basically the same as the mechanism of forming an image, and then the concept of a particular object. The image of a person, formed by the subject cognizing him, appears as a set of reflex acts that are consistently performed and connected with each other, closing into a single whole, as a result of which the cognizable person simultaneously appears before us in the diversity of his inherent characteristics.

Reflex acts, the result of which is the formation of a first impression, especially if its formation is subordinated to a specific goal, as a rule, occur at a different level of activity of the cerebral cortex than acts that result in a person’s perception of people he knows who behave, in his opinion, usually . This happens because the orienting reflex is included in the mechanism for forming the first impression. When an unfamiliar teacher appears in the classroom, when a new worker joins a team, and in a host of other similar cases, this reaction takes place

As has now been established, the orienting reaction is a reaction to novelty, surprise, significance, i.e., a reaction to the amount and importance of information that a particular signal carries to a given individual. The greater the discrepancy, for example, between the appearance and behavior of a new teacher entering the classroom for the first time, and how the students expected him to be, the greater the amount of information about himself he conveys to them. The indicative reaction fades when the signal is repeated, because the latter, while remaining physically the same, brings the individual less and less information.

An important area of research in interpersonal perception is the study of the process of forming a first impression of another person. The three most typical schemes according to which this process occurs are described. Each “scheme” is triggered by a certain factor present in the dating situation. The factors of superiority, attractiveness of the partner and attitude towards the observer are identified.

Excellence factor - triggers a scheme of social perception in a situation of inequality between partners (more precisely, when the observer feels the superiority of a partner in some important parameter for him - intelligence, height, financial situation, etc.). The essence of what is happening is that a person who is superior to the observer in some important parameter is rated much higher by him in other important parameters. In other words, his general personal reassessment occurs.

At the same time, the more insecure the observer feels at a given moment, in a given specific situation, the less effort is required to run this scheme. Thus, in an extreme situation, people are often ready to trust those whom they would not listen to in a calm environment.

To determine this parameter, we have two main sources of information at our disposal:

a person's clothes external design, including such attributes as insignia, glasses, hairstyle, awards, jewelry, and in certain cases, elements such as a car, office interior, etc.;
a person’s behavior (how he sits, walks, talks, where he looks, etc.).

Attractiveness factor - ensures the implementation of the scheme associated with the perception of a communication partner as attractive in appearance, while the mistake is that people also tend to overestimate an outwardly attractive person in terms of other socio-psychological parameters that are important to them. There is a so-called stereotype of attractiveness: what is beautiful is good. Children learn this stereotype very early. Cinderella and Snow White are beautiful - and good. The stepsisters and the witch are ugly - and bad. The factor of attitude towards the observer regulates the inclusion of the partner’s perception scheme, which is based on the nature of the attitude towards the observer. The error of perception in this case is that we tend to positively evaluate people who treat us well or share some important ideas for us based on other indicators.

The whole point of the interaction between the subject and the object of interpersonal perception is that the perceiver builds a system of inferences and conclusions regarding what is perceived based on a kind of “reading” of its external data. The “quality” of such a reading is determined both by the abilities of the reader and by the clarity of the text.

That is why the characteristics of both the subject and the object are significant for the result of interpersonal perception. However, if we continue the line of the proposed images, we can assume that the quality of reading is also determined by such an important factor as the conditions in which the process is carried out, in particular the illumination of the text, the presence or absence of interference when reading, etc. Translating the concept of “reading conditions” in the language of experimental studies of interpersonal perception, it is necessary to include in the analysis such a component as the situation of interpersonal perception.

The problem of forming a first impression about another person in children 6-7 years old is vitally important, since it is known that the upcoming adaptation to schooling requires the preschooler to have extensive contact with new people: teachers and peers. Mutual understanding and success in communication, and, consequently, the success of inclusion in a new social development situation.

Object of study : perception of a stranger by children 6-7 years old.

Subject of research : features of the first impression of older preschoolers about another person.

Purpose of the study : to study the content of the first impression of another person in children of senior preschool age.

General hypothesis The study suggested that the first impression of older preschool children about another person is determined by the stranger’s appearance.

To achieve the goal and test the research hypothesis, the following were identified: tasks :

1. Identify psychological problems and main directions in the study of the process of interpersonal perception in modern psychology.

2. Consider the features of the development of interpersonal perception in preschool age.

3. To study what features of a stranger older preschoolers reflect when perceiving his external (nonverbal) appearance.

4. Explore the characteristics of children’s emotional attitude towards another person based on their first impression.

Methodological basis research are theoretical provisions developed and accepted in domestic science:

social-perceptual approach about the involvement of external appearance in the process of interpersonal cognition (A.A. Bodalev, V.N. Panferov, G.V. Dyakonov, N.V. Krogius, etc.);
psychology of nonverbal behavior about the ambiguity of human expression (V.A. Labunskaya);
visual psychosemiotics of communication about the indicative function of visual signs of external appearance in people’s knowledge of each other (E.A. Petrova and others).

Research methods. The empirical study used: a modified technique by A.A. Bodalev “Method of verbal portraits”; diagnostic observation; conversations; methods of mathematical statistics for processing empirical data, qualitative analysis of work results.

As objects of perception 8 people took part in the study (4 adults - 2 men and 2 women and 4 peers - 2 boys and 2 girls).

Key points:

When forming a first impression, children develop the following mechanisms of interpersonal perception:

Building an image based on an already existing, stable idea, for example, about members of a certain social group (stereotyping).

Form psychological protection. It is characterized by the fact that when it is implemented, the individual unconsciously assimilates to the object that threatens him (identification).

Comprehension of the emotional state, penetration and feeling into the experiences of another person (empathy).

The first impression of children of senior preschool age about another person is formed on the basis of the interpretation of his external appearance; children “judge” the personal qualities of a new person by the features of his appearance. Moreover, the most informative elements for children of senior preschool age are such elements as “costume”, the least - “kinesics” (gesture language - facial expressions, gaze, gestures, postures, except movements speech apparatus) and “habitus” (appearance, or appearance).
The content and completeness of interpretation are related to the solution of a specific problem of interpersonal cognition. Children 6-7 years old interpret different amounts of external and internal features stranger, depending on the perception task. Thus, when describing the external appearance of a stranger, older preschoolers make more judgments than when explaining the reasons for their emotional attitude towards him.
The emotional attitude towards a stranger is associated with the design of his appearance and physical attractiveness. Older preschoolers showed a tendency to positively evaluate people of their own sex. Indicators of physical defects in the appearance of a perceived person, the strongest influence on the modality of the emerging emotional attitude, are exerted by such semiotic elements of the social design of the appearance of a stranger, such as clothing and hairstyle.

Factors influencing the formation of first impressions

Personality characteristics of the person being studied

The impression that is formed about another person by a subject seeing him for the first time is determined, first of all, by the features inherent in the appearance and behavior of the perceived person. These features largely direct the course of cognitive processes in the perceiving subject.

As a result of the experiments, it was found that the content of the concept that people develop about the personality of a person perceived for the first time is influenced not only by the strength and brightness of the manifestation of a certain quality in his behavior, the frequency with which this quality reveals itself, but also by the sequence in which people get to know another person gain knowledge about different aspects of his personality.

Although the first impression of a person is primarily determined by his inherent characteristics, what it will be - more generalized or more specific, complete or fragmentary, positive or negative - depends on the personality of the one from whom it is formed. There is a pattern here: “External causes act through internal conditions... Every mental phenomenon is ultimately caused by external influences, but any external influence determines a mental phenomenon only indirectly, refracting through the properties, states and mental activity of the individual who is exposed to this influence.”

Factors that determine the course and results of a subject’s formation about other people.

Standards

Each person, under the influence of the society in which he is located, develops general moral and aesthetic requirements for other people and creates more or less specific standards that embody these requirements. When one person knows another, these standards play the role of “measures”, which, figuratively speaking, are applied to the person being cognized and make it possible to attribute this person to some kind of “class” in the system of “types” that has formed in the cognizing object.

Stereotypes

A person - a subject of cognition of other people - can always identify “sets” of qualities that he tends to attribute to those persons whose “class”, as it seems to him, has been established by him. Indeed, quite often, when assessing a person as aggressive, people tend to assess him as highly energetic, and when assessing him as kind, attribute honesty to him.

This phenomenon of “attributing” entire “sets” of certain qualities to a cognizable personality on the basis of attributing it, according to the qualities seen in it, to some “class” of persons is called “stereotyping”, and “sets of qualities that a person “attributes” to the personality he cognizes, - “evaluative stereotypes”. Translated from Greek, “stereotype” means “solid imprint.” These are images or ideas that are persistently preserved in the mind, which are an emotionally charged prejudice or a stable assessment.

Own behavior of the assessing object

In Streikland’s study, which was very interesting in terms of the methodological techniques used, the importance of the evaluator’s own behavior in relation to other people was revealed for him to develop a definite opinion about them during a meeting.

Projection

Further research has shown that in the process of forming the first impression, the process of “projection” is involved, which consists in the fact that the cognizing subject can “invest” his states in another person, attributing to him traits that are actually inherent in himself and which the person being assessed may not have .

In a study by Feshback and Singer, student subjects were subjected to mild electrical shocks that caused discomfort. At the same time, these subjects, as well as the students who made up the control group, were shown a movie in which a certain person appeared. All subjects were required to evaluate the personality traits of this person and, if possible, evaluate his condition. As a result, it turned out that the groups of subjects exposed to electrical stimulation rated the person on the screen as more fearful and frightened than did the subjects in the control group.

Sears in his experiments identified a slightly different type of “projection”. According to him, a person, assessing another person, can see and actually sees traits that can be negative and characterize him as a personality. Subjects whose personalities were marked by bile, stubbornness, and suspicion rated the development of these traits in the person they proposed for assessment much higher. What did the subjects who did not have the named traits do?

The tendency to attribute one's own qualities or one's own states to other people is especially strong among individuals who are characterized by low self-criticism and poor insight into their own personality. According to Newcomb, this tendency is to a very large extent characteristic of representatives of the so-called “authoritarian” personality type and is almost not found in representatives of the “democratic” type.

Self Confidence

The completeness and nature of the assessment of another person also depend on such quality of the assessor as the degree of his self-confidence.

Bossom and Maslow, studying how a person's level of confidence affects his assessment of other people, found that confident people often evaluate other people as friendly and disposed towards them. At the same time, people who are not confident in themselves tend to look at other people as not being cold and not disposed towards them.

The first impression of a person as a phenomenon of interpersonal perception.

The ability to recognize the intentions and motives of another person’s behavior in the first stages of acquaintance, at the first impression, is reflected in the studies of domestic and foreign psychologists. In Russian psychology, various aspects of this problem were studied by A.A. Bodalev, G.V. Dyakonov, L.I. Ivanskaya, G.A. Kovalev, S.I. Kuryachiy, V.A. Labunskaya, V.N. Panferov, E.A. Petrova, Z.F. Semenova, and in foreign psychology - D. Nirenberg, G. Calero, A. Stangl, R. Pokorny, Kline and Richards, J. Guilford, Newcomb, Singer, etc.

The problem of forming a first impression was intensively developed by the prominent Russian psychologist A.A. Bodalev and his students. The structure of the first impression of a person was studied, which consists mainly of following components: features of a person’s external appearance, the design of his appearance, including the style of his clothing, expression, the emotional states experienced by a person, the actions he performs, his behavior, the supposed qualities of his personality, interpreted on the basis of first impressions and past experience. In addition, the first impression includes an emotional attitude towards the perceived person and a generalized value judgment. Thus, when forming a first impression about another person, A.A. Bodalev, G.V. Dyakonov and N.V. Krogius proved the leading role of the social-perceptual function of visual signs of a person’s external appearance. First of all, they are indicators of such human characteristics as gender, age, nationality, emotional states and a number of individual psychological properties:

anxiety, confidence, extroversion-introversion, etc. (A.A. Bodalev,

V.N. Panferov, V.A. Labunskaya).

V.A. Labunskaya notes that within the framework of the psychology of social cognition, interpersonal perception and understanding, special attention is paid to determining the role of various components in a person’s expression in the formation of ideas about him.“...It has become completely obvious that the cognizing subject includes in the image of another person, along with his physical, individual psychological characteristics, activity, communicative, reflex characteristics, strives to interpret the causes, motives of behavior, and to socio-psychological typification.”Thus, from the concept of V.A. Labunskaya it follows that at the stage of first impression a person creates the most generalized image of another person, expressed in the simplest characteristics, for example, attractive, kind.

Researchers such as V.N. Kunitsina, N.V. Kazarinova, V.M. Pogolsha paid significant attention to the first impression in the process of interpersonal communication. In their collective work, they noted: “The formation of an idea about another person always begins with an assessment of his physical appearance, demeanor, with an analysis of the information that a person’s appearance provides. This information becomes the foundation of the emerging image of another person.”

Meanwhile, “the information that people receive when perceiving the appearance of another person is not always realized by them and depends on many factors. The perceived elements of physical appearance, appearance or expressive behavior act as numerous social signals that clarify a person’s nationality, his age and experience, feelings in at the moment, his level of culture and aesthetic tastes...”

Thus, according to A.A. Bodalev (1982), the psychological attitude towards the perceived person is of great importance for the adequacy of the formed image of a person according to the first impression, because it

makes perception selective. For example, if the observer described a person before the meeting as decent, charming and intelligent, then the first impression of him will be approximately the same. A person is more likely to pay attention to what he has an attitude towards, in order to confirm his already existing views.

A clear example of the influence of an attitude on the first impression of a person can be found in the studies of A.A. Bodalev, devoted to the formation of a subjective opinion about another stranger. During the study, different groups of subjects were presented with photographs of men and women of different ages. Moreover, different groups The subjects were given different meanings to the same photographs. Thus, the young woman was presented as a teacher, as an artist; an elderly man - as a scientist, as a criminal, etc. The results of the study showed that the subjects gave a description of the person in accordance with their previously formed attitude. Let us give an example of the perception of an elderly man as a writer and as a criminal:

"An open face, expressive eyes, such as smart, insightful people usually have. The face of a man who loves children and writes for

them. Judging by his relaxed appearance, he is used to posing - apparently very

famous writer."

“This beast wants to understand something. He looks intelligently and without interruption. A standard gangster chin, bags under his eyes, a massive aging figure.”

In the works of domestic and foreign psychologists (R. Pokorny, 1961; N. A. Bernstein, 1963; A. V. Stangl, 1986; H. Rückle 1996), devoted to the analysis of gait, we find a direct dependence of its characteristics on the emotional state of a person, with his health, etc. By gait one can judge the professional activity of the object of perception (a sailor’s gait is “waddle”, a soldier’s is a clear jerky step, etc.), about
etc.............

The first idea about him, formed on the basis of short-term contact with a person, is a complex psychological process. At the same time, the formation of the first impression is influenced not only by certain characteristics of the personality, which is the object of cognition, but also personal qualities the cognizing, perceiving person: these are the formed “standards”, and the stereotypes fixed in the consciousness, and the degree of self-confidence of the person. And his usual attitude towards people. Extremely important question more generally - the question of the role of attitude in the process of perceiving a person by a person. There are three types of attitudes towards the perception of another person (Sarzhveladze N.I. Personality and its interaction with the social environment. Tbilisi: "Metsniereba", 1989 p. 480):

Positive. With a positive attitude, we overestimate positive qualities and give the person a large advance, which manifests itself in unconscious gullibility.

Negative. Negative attitude leads to the fact that mainly the negative qualities of another person are perceived, which is expressed in distrust and suspicion.

Adequate.

The best thing, of course, is an adequate understanding that every person has both positive and negative qualities. The main thing is how they are balanced and assessed by the person himself. The presence of attitudes is considered as an unconscious predisposition to perceive and evaluate the qualities of other people. These attitudes underlie typical distortions of the image of another person. The role of attitude is especially significant in forming the first impression of a stranger, which was revealed in the experiments of A.A. Bodaleva. Two groups of students were shown a photograph of the same person. But first the first group was told that the man in the photograph shown was an inveterate criminal, and the second group was told about the same person that he was a prominent scientist. After this, each group was asked to create a verbal portrait of the photographed person. In the first case, the corresponding characteristics were obtained: deep-set eyes indicated hidden anger, a prominent chin indicated the determination to “go to the end” in a crime, etc. Accordingly, in the second group, the same deep-set eyes spoke about the depth of thought, and a prominent chin - about willpower in overcoming difficulties on the path of knowledge, etc.

In experimental studies devoted to the characteristics of the object of perception, it turns out that the success or failure of interpersonal perception also largely depends on them.

The three most typical schemes for forming a first impression of a person are described. Each scheme is “triggered” by a certain factor present in the dating situation. The factors of superiority, attractiveness of the partner and attitude towards the observer are identified.

The superiority factor is associated with the fact that a person who is superior to the observer in an important parameter is rated much higher by him in other significant parameters. In other words, his general personal reassessment occurs. Moreover, the more insecure the observer feels at the moment, in this particular situation, the less effort is needed to launch this scheme. Thus, in an extreme situation, people are often ready to trust those whom they would not listen to in a calm environment.

The attractiveness factor ensures the implementation of the scheme associated with the perception of a partner as extremely attractive in appearance. The mistake made in this case is that people also tend to overestimate an outwardly attractive person based on other psychological and social parameters that are important to them.

The factor of attitude towards the observer regulates the inclusion of the partner’s perception scheme, which is based on the nature of the attitude towards the observer. The error of perception in this case is that we tend to positively evaluate people who treat us well or share some important ideas for us based on other indicators.

The most often used is the perception scheme, which is triggered in the event of inequality between partners in one or another social sphere (different social status), intellectual, inequality of positions in the group (group status), etc. Inequality bias occurs when people tend to systematically overestimate different psychological qualities those people who are superior to them in some parameter that is important to them. This scheme begins to work not with every, but only with really important, significant for us inequality. If I, sick and weak, want to be healthy and strong and meet a person bursting with health and strength, then I will overestimate him in all respects; in my eyes he will be at the same time beautiful, smart, and kind. If the main thing for me is erudition and education, then when meeting with strong man nothing will happen, but when meeting someone who is intellectually superior, a mistake will occur. So, we can assume that in in this case the perception scheme is as follows: “When we meet a person who is superior to us in some important parameter for us, we evaluate him somewhat more positively than would be the case if he were equal to us. If we are dealing with a person whom we are superior in some way, then we underestimate him.” It is very important that superiority is recorded in one particular parameter, while overestimation (or underestimation) occurs in many parameters. In the future, I will call this kind of error in communication the effect of the “superiority” factor.

Excellence factor

Research shows that to determine this parameter we have two main sources of information at our disposal: 1) a person’s clothing, all external appearance, including attributes such as insignia, glasses, hair style, awards, jewelry; in certain cases, even such “clothes” as a car, an armchair, office decoration, etc. are considered; 2) a person’s behavior (how he sits, walks, talks, where he looks, etc.).

It is clear that, apart from these two signs, we have nothing (unless, of course, we consider the case when we first reliably know about superiority).

No less important and recognizable are the errors associated with the “general aesthetic expressiveness of a person,” i.e. with whether we like our communication partner outwardly or not. The mistakes are that if we like a person (outwardly!), then at the same time we tend to consider him better, smarter, more interesting, etc., i.e. again, overestimate many of his psychological characteristics.

For example, in one of the experiments, teachers were asked to evaluate the “personal affairs” of students. They were given the task of determining the student’s level of intelligence, the attitude of his parents towards school, his plans for further education and the attitude of his peers towards him. The secret of the experiment was that everyone was given the same personal file, but different photographs were attached to it - one obviously attractive, and the other obviously unattractive. It turned out that “attractive” children, despite other equal conditions, teachers attributed higher intelligence, intention to attend college, best status in a group of peers, parents who are more involved in their upbringing.

Another example. American psychologist A. Miller, using the method of expert assessments, selected photographs of beautiful, “ordinary” and ugly people. He then showed these photographs to men and women aged 18 to 24 and asked them to comment on inner world each of those who were depicted in the photographs. The subjects rated both men and women whom experts rated as the most beautiful as more self-confident, happy and sincere, balanced, energetic, gracious, sophisticated, and more spiritually rich than those who were rated as ugly by experts, and even than those , who fell into the “ordinary” category. In addition, male subjects rated beautiful women as more caring and attentive (Dotsenko E.L. Psychology of manipulation: phenomena, mechanisms and protection. - M.: CheRo, Moscow State University Publishing House, 1997. - p. 267).

Thus, it turns out that this type of error is very similar to the previous one: here, too, under the influence of one factor, a person’s properties are overestimated or underestimated. Only here we are dealing with the action of the “attractiveness” factor - the more externally attractive a person is to us, the better he is in all respects; if he is unattractive, then his other qualities are underestimated. These elements serve as signs of group affiliation both for the “wearer” of clothing and the “author” of behavior, and for the people around him. Understanding one’s place in a particular hierarchy, group, in the entire system of social relations, as well as the position of other people largely determines communication and interaction. Therefore, highlighting superiority by some external, visible means is always very important.

In earlier times, this was so important that certain clothes not only could be worn by people of a certain status or social position, but had to be worn by them. There were certain rules about what and who could or could not wear. Thus, the task of recognizing status was quite simple at that time.

It can be stated quite definitely that even in our time, when there are no strict regulations and restrictions, the role of clothing in coding superiority remains significant. We can probably talk about the existence of an unofficial symbolic system of clothing and external attributes of a person, the elements or combination of elements of which are the hooks that direct the formation of the first impression according to the scheme of superiority.

Analysis of a person’s wardrobe (preferred style, shape, color and other features of clothing) in such a situation can provide a lot of information about such individual psychological characteristics of a person as his temperament, character, social status, etc. But since clothing also reflects some features of our unconscious (attitudes, psychological defenses, etc.), then about this area. What in clothing indicates superiority? First of all, the price, the higher it is, the higher the status. We “calculate” the price by seeing the quality of the clothing, which is directly related to the price. Knowing the frequency of occurrence of a given model (scarcity) and its relationship with fashion (fashionability), we can also judge the price of clothing.

In addition to price, the choice of clothing silhouette is closely related to social status. Many people call people's clothes tall social status“strict”, “official”, etc. Moreover, most often these words refer to the silhouette. A silhouette that approaches an elongated rectangle with emphasized corners is considered “high-status,” while a “low-status” silhouette approaches a ball.

The third factor in clothing that is always noted as a sign of status is its color. IN different countries specific colors may have different meaning. In our country, black and white clothing is noted as a sign of high status, and the brighter, more saturated, and purer the color of the clothing (not black and white), the lower the expected status. It should be noted that these signs are important not only on their own, individually, but also in interaction.

So, if bright multi-colored clothes are combined with a very high price, then the subjects tend to conclude about financial superiority, and if high price combined with an inappropriate silhouette, the “wearer” is more likely to be recognized as a high-status “artist” than as a person of low status. In the same way, superiority, for example, intellectual, can be perceived by clothing. It is known that if a person wears glasses, then his mental and educational level is overestimated.

In behavior, as in clothing, there are always elements that allow one to judge a person’s status. What is “superiority” in behavior? Most likely can be defined as independence in various circumstances and situations. This includes, first of all, independence from the partner: a person does not show that he is interested in the one with whom he communicates, his reactions, moods, state or what he is talking about. Such independence “from the outside” may look like arrogance, impudence, self-confidence, etc. Independence from the communication situation is revealed in the following: a person does not seem to “notice” some of its aspects - the presence of witnesses, an unsuccessfully chosen moment, various obstacles, etc. This behavior can be perceived in different ways, but almost always indicates a certain superiority. This is also evidenced by independence from various small, unwritten norms of communication. A too relaxed posture (for example, lounging in a chair) during an important conversation can mean superiority in the situation, power. Or: a person looks to the side, out the window, examines his nails - this is a clear demonstration of superiority, power (by the way, independent people usually look carefully at their interlocutor, “look into the eyes”). If a person speaks incomprehensibly to the interlocutor, uses a lot of special terms, foreign words, i.e. does not strive to be understood, then such behavior is sometimes recorded as intellectual superiority, although in essence this is also a violation of the norm of communication - to speak clearly.

Behavior may contain signs of superiority in various reasons: due to actual superiority, objective or only subjective; and also due to situational superiority. Anyone can find themselves in a situation that they do not understand, in which they are very poorly oriented, and therefore become dependent on others - their advice, answers to questions, etc. In this case, a person who is easily oriented - the “master” of the situation - for any reason knows how to behave, who is who, will definitely behave more confidently, independently and, therefore, demonstrate elements of superiority in his behavior. The same elements can be shown by a person with subjective superiority, “knowing his own worth”, “valuing himself highly”. If such behavior is not supported by our own ideas or information about true or situational superiority, then we can primarily evaluate not status, but, for example, some personal qualities this person, the level of his claims (for example, “he thinks a lot about himself”).

Thus, we can conclude that the perception of superiority in behavior depends on the assessment of independence in behavior and on our willingness to recognize this independence as justified, i.e. from our own position at this moment, which is determined by the significance of the situation for us.

If in some situation that is significant for himself a person feels for some reason insecure, unstable, dependent on some, perhaps, events that have not yet taken place (i.e. he himself currently has a “negative” superiority), then in this situation, the superiority factor can begin to operate even from a slight push, from the perception of microscopic (and at other times would not have an effect) deviations in behavior, during appearance another person. Then, at any hint, sometimes imaginary, the action of superiority is “triggered”, and mistakes will not be slow to show up. There are many examples of this: people in acute, extreme situations trust those whom they would never trust in a normal situation, they listen to the advice of those (and follow this advice) whom they would not listen to in an insignificant, calm situation.

So, the effect of the superiority factor begins when a person detects the superiority of another over himself by signs in clothing and behavior. As a result of this, a person, on the one hand, builds his behavior at the moment, on the other hand, when assessing the personality of a partner, he can make the mistakes described earlier: exaggerate (or downplay) certain qualities.

Attractiveness factor

The perception of attractiveness is a process of the same nature as the perception of superiority, i.e. social nature, and, consequently, their mechanisms should be similar. Hence, signs of attractiveness should be looked for not in this or that eye shape or hair color, but in the social meaning of this or that sign that serves as a sign of attractiveness. After all, there are types of appearance that are approved and not approved by society or a specific social group. And attractiveness is nothing more than the degree of approximation to the type of appearance that is maximally approved by the group or groups to which we belong.

The efforts that a person expends to conform to a socially approved type of appearance can be considered as signs of attractiveness. Such signs are fixed and trigger a scheme - a person is either considered attractive, and then all his invisible qualities are overestimated, or unattractive, and then the rest is underestimated.

This is very clearly seen in the example of such a component of appearance as physique. It is customary to distinguish three main body types: endomorphic (picnic) - people prone to obesity, mesomorphic (athletic) - slim, strong, muscular and ectomorphic (asthenic) - tall, thin, fragile. Quite a long time ago, numerous researchers showed that body type is associated with certain psychological traits. Thus, picnics are usually more sociable. Prone to comfort, changeable in moods. Athletes are characterized by high vitality and a love of adventure, while asthenics are usually more restrained, silent, and calm. In our everyday consciousness, these connections are fixed quite firmly (Godefroy J., What is Psychology M.: Mir, 1992.-376 C 240).

However, in the first impression all these "constructive" elements do not have much meaning. The main thing is which body type is socially approved and which is not. Thus, in a study conducted by Braudeli, subjects were presented with five male silhouettes different types physique. It was necessary to give a description of the possible psychological properties of people with the proposed silhouettes. The reactions of the subjects were as follows. The muscular, athletic mesomorphic type received consistent positive ratings in the descriptions. The endomorphic type - a short, fat man - was characterized negatively in most cases. Silhouettes of the ectomorphic type - tall and thin - occupied an intermediate position in the assessment of the subjects: they did not evoke such a favorable reaction as the mesomorphic type, but they were not subject to destructive criticism like the endomorphic one.

It has been reliably recorded that children with an ectomorphic (asthenic) build are less attractive - they are less often chosen as companions, more often avoided, and it has been noted that this tendency intensifies with age.

Thus, the body type that is attractive is the one that is socially approved. But even more attractive is the effort spent on obtaining it (Shchekin G.V. Visual psychodiagnostics: knowing people by their appearance. M., 1992, p. 22).

So, we can say that signs of attractiveness are a person's efforts to look socially approved in a certain group. The mechanism for the formation of perception according to this scheme is the same stereotype, but now not directly according to the signs of belonging to a group, but, so to speak, according to their first derivative - according to the signs of the desire to be assigned to a given group.

Factor of attitude towards us

The following scheme is no doubt well known. Probably everyone will agree that those people who love us (treat us well) seem to us much better than those who hate us (treat us badly). This is a manifestation of the action of the “attitude towards us” factor, which leads to a change in the assessment of people’s qualities depending on the sign of this attitude.

Psychologists Curry and Keni, having identified the opinions of their subjects on a number of issues, introduced them to the opinions of other people on the same issues and asked them to evaluate these people. The opinions presented ranged from complete agreement to complete disagreement with the position of the subjects. It turned out that the closer someone else’s opinion is to one’s own, the higher the assessment of the person who expressed this opinion. This rule also had a retroactive effect: the higher someone was rated, the more similar his views were to his own. The conviction in this supposed “kinship of souls” is so great that subjects are simply not inclined to notice differences in terms of an attractive face.

In the above experiment, agreement was asked directly. However, there are a huge number of indirect signs of consent. This includes certain behavior - nods of approval or encouragement, smiles in the right places, other manifestations that correspond to your position, words, and even the demeanor itself. It is important that there is agreement in everything: and the perception scheme is activated according to the factor of attitude towards us. In fact, this is also a stereotype of a special kind. What is at work here is an idea that is not real. social groups, but subjective groups. We are talking about those groups that do not “exist in nature,” i.e. not specified public relations, exist in our minds. Let's say a person considers himself a smart, knowledgeable engineer, well versed in politics and football, happy in family life etc. It's the same as classifying yourself as a group. smart people, knowledgeable engineers. Experts in politics, football, etc. This means having subjective ideas (stereotypes) about what an intelligent person, an expert in football, etc. is. And, naturally, the sign of belonging to these groups will be agreement with him, and then the corresponding stereotype is triggered, i.e. the scheme of attitude towards us seems to complement the first two. All this is accomplished through one mechanism - stereotyping. A sign of attitude towards us, which triggers the corresponding impression formation scheme, is everything that indicates the partner’s agreement or disagreement with us.

In constant communication, the laws and results of first impressions continue to apply. However, constant and long-term communication cannot be satisfied with the list of traits and properties attributed to the partner that were formed during the first impression. In constant communication, it becomes important to have a deeper and more objective understanding of the partner - his current state, the dynamics of his attitude towards us, his perception of the situation. Here, the perception of the partner and understanding of him occur on a different basis; stereotypes help little, if not interfere.

Indeed: in real communication, we almost always roughly understand what is happening with our partner. At the same time, it is not so important that we are not always aware of this understanding; what is important is that even in a hidden form it is a regulator of our behavior. It is unlikely that everyone can explain at any moment in communication why it seems to him that the interlocutor is upset about something or does not want to continue the conversation. However, we have this understanding, otherwise we would not find out what happened or try to end the conversation. This means that the perception of another person in communication provides us with material for drawing conclusions.

Communicating with a partner. We receive a large amount of information about him, about his conditions, experiences. It is also known that the ability to adequately perceive others different people different. There is an ability that allows you to external signs see the inner content. Almost all people have this ability to a greater or lesser extent, but it can be significantly enhanced if life experience and knowledge.

There really are real grounds for understanding another person by his appearance and elements of behavior. This has now been reliably established by psychological research. They show that almost all details of a person’s external appearance can carry information about his emotional states, his attitude towards the people around him in general, about his attitude towards himself, about how he feels in communication in a given situation.

A person’s face, his gestures, facial expressions, general style of expressive behavior, gait, his manner of standing, sitting, habitual postures and their changes during a conversation, spatial orientation in relation to partners, as well as various combinations these factors - all of this has a certain socio-perceptual content and carries information about its internal states and characteristics.

Of course, the thing that most attracts our attention in the appearance of another person is his face, and this is understandable, since it can tell us a lot about the interlocutor.

Indeed, you can make a “smart” face and thereby influence the opinion of yourself, and, in addition, the face is often “spiritualized,” “funny,” “enlightened,” “gloomy,” etc. The first and most important thing that is reflected in a person’s face, his facial expressions, are emotions. Moreover, it is very important to note that research demonstrates the very great “ability” of all people to recognize basic emotions by facial expression, and the transmission of emotional states is one of the main functions of facial expression. Ekman found that there are seven basic facial expressions - configurations of facial expressions that express seven emotions: happiness, surprise, fear, suffering, anger, disgust or contempt and interest. It has been shown that all people, regardless of the nationality and culture in which they grew up, interpret these facial configurations with sufficient accuracy and consistency as an expression of corresponding emotions. And although each mine is the configuration of the entire face, it has nevertheless been established that the main informative load is carried by the eyebrows and the area around the mouth (lips).

When discussing information that can be read “from a person’s face,” it is necessary to mention the role of gaze direction - a very important “tool” of communication. In fact, it is unpleasant, for example, to talk to a person who does not look at us all the time, “averts his eyes.”

However, although the face, by all accounts, is the main source of psychological information, nevertheless, in many situations it is much less informative than we think. This is due to the fact that facial expressions are quite well controlled by a person, despite the popular belief that, since “everything is written on the face,” it can give away a person, even when he doesn’t want it. Since the face is very expressive, it is very visible to others, and, therefore, evokes a powerful feedback, and facial expressions are quite well aware, then the face is well controlled. In any case, many times better than the body.

So, under certain circumstances (for example, following the rules of etiquette), when a person wants to hide his feelings, the face becomes less informative, and the body becomes the main source of information for the partner. One psychologist even called the body a place of “information leakage” about our mental states.

Therefore, in communication, it is important to know what information can be obtained if you shift the focus of observation from a person’s face to his body and his movements, since gestures, postures, and style of expressive behavior contain a lot of information. This has been shown by numerous studies conducted over the past 30 years. Perhaps the most interesting result of these long-term studies was that almost all people can “read” poses and gestures well, although, of course, they do not always understand how they do it.

Quite a lot is known about the information that gestures convey. First of all, the amount of gestures is important. Despite the fact that the normal number of gestures varies among different peoples and in different cultures(more in the south and less in the north), nevertheless, everywhere their number and intensity grow along with the increase in a person’s emotional arousal, his agitation. The intensity of gestures increases and, if desired, to achieve complete understanding between partners, especially if for some reason it is difficult.

It has been shown that “closed” poses (when a person somehow tries to close the front part of the body and occupy as much space as possible) less space in space; “Napoleonic” pose, standing: arms crossed on the chest, and sitting: both hands resting on the chin, etc.) are perceived as poses of distrust, disagreement, opposition, criticism or even fear of the partner. And indeed, they express this content. Open poses (standing: arms open with palms up, sitting: arms outstretched, legs extended) are perceived as poses of trust, agreement, goodwill, and psychological comfort. There are clearly readable poses of reflection (the pose of Rodin's thinker), poses of critical assessment (a hand under the chin, the index finger extended along the temple). It is known that if a person is interested in communication, he will lean forward towards the interlocutor while sitting, but if he is not very interested, he will lean back.

A person who wants to make a statement, to “put himself out there,” will stand upright. In a tense state, with shoulders turned, sometimes with hands on hips; a person who does not need to emphasize his status and position will be relaxed, calm, and in a free, relaxed position.

The meaning and meaning of postures, as well as other elements of expressive behavior, can be understood by any person. Hardly necessary special training to understand: if a person is somehow crooked, stiff, tense, then he is more likely to feel bad than good. If one feels extraordinary lightness in movements and poses, he is relaxed, free, he probably has good mood. Just as easily as posture, the meaning of the general pattern of gait - the moments of getting up, sitting down, etc., can be understood, i.e. the importance of movement style and posture changes.

Gait, for example, is one of the most important clues to understanding internal state person. It’s not for nothing that the gait is so recognizable - it is strictly individual. At the same time, many characteristics of a person are clearly visible in their gait. Therefore, it is not surprising that good doctors considered gait a diagnostic symptom of various diseases.

By gait, an observer can quite easily recognize the emotional state of its owner. Thus, in a study by Montepar, Goldstein and Clausen, subjects with great accuracy recognized emotions such as anger, rage, suffering, pride, and happiness by their gait. Moreover, it turned out that the “heaviest” gait is when angry, the most long length step - with pride. When a person experiences suffering, he hardly swings his arms, they “hang”, and if he is happy, he “flies”, his steps are more frequent and lighter. Probably, the fact is that a person is never faced with the task of “simply perceiving” another. The first impression is not an end in itself. In fact, our communication is structured in significantly different ways depending on who we are communicating with, i.e. for each degree of superiority, for each category of partners there are, as it were, different “techniques” of communication. This is especially clear in the example of communication between adults and young children. Just as many adults do not know how to talk to children, how often small children have difficulty communicating with unfamiliar adults. The reason for these failures is the lack of adequate communication techniques among both of them, despite such a huge and obvious superiority in all respects. The same points appear in the failures of many educated people to communicate with " strongmen of the world this."

The choice of communication “technique” in each specific case is determined by the characteristics of the partner. Therefore, the most important characteristics of a partner in a given situation are those that allow him to be classified into some category or group. It is these characteristics that are perceived most accurately.

In each situation, the focus of perception is those signs of another person that make it possible to determine his belonging to a particular group in accordance with the characteristics of the situation and the requirements for constructing further behavior. And all other features and features that are “out of focus” are simply completed according to certain schemes, and this is where the possibility of error appears.

Thus, the perception of anyone else is always both true and false, right and wrong, it is more accurate in relation to the main characteristics at the moment on which we base behavior, and less accurate in relation to others.

These are in general outline typical schemes for forming a first impression. However, it is important to know that when forming an opinion about a person based on the first impression (which is often necessary in our lives), the first knowledge does not give an accurate idea of the person, and no one is immune from mistakes. You should not judge people too categorically based on their first impression.

Name of the university

Abstract on social psychology on the topic:

"Formation of the first impression"

Faculty of Management

Group No.

your name

Moscow 2003

Introduction 3
Forming a first impression 3

Contents of the concept of “first impression” 3
Factors influencing the formation of first impressions 3

Personality characteristics of the person being studied 3
Personality characteristics of the perceiving person 3

Is the first impression correct 6
Conclusion 7
List of used literature: 8

Introduction

IN everyday life, in a work and non-work environment, every person has to meet new people. In many cases, circumstances develop in such a way that, based on short-term perception alone, we are forced to evaluate these people and choose what seems to us the most reasonable way of behavior and action in relation to each of them. In all such cases, we are dealing with the so-called first impression and with acts of behavior based on it.

Forming a first impression

Contents of the concept “first impression”

Factors influencing the formation of first impressions

Personality characteristics of the person being studied

Personality characteristics of the perceiving person

Although the first impression of a person is primarily determined by his inherent characteristics, what it will be - more generalized or more specific, complete or fragmentary, positive or negative - depends on the personality of the one from whom it is formed. There is a pattern here: “External causes act through internal conditions... Every mental phenomenon is ultimately caused by external influences, but any external influence determines a mental phenomenon only indirectly, refracted through the properties, states and mental activity of the individual who is exposed to this influence” Rubinstein S. .L. Being and consciousness. M., 1958, p. 14

It is interesting to determine exactly what factors in the subject’s personality determine the course and results of the formation of his impressions of other people.

Standards

Each person, under the influence of the society of which he is a member, develops general moral and aesthetic requirements for other people and creates more or less specific standards that embody these requirements. When one person knows another, these standards play the role of “measures”, which, figuratively speaking, are applied to the person being cognized and make it possible to attribute this person to some kind of “class” in the system of “types” that has been formed by the cognizing subject.

Stereotypes

A person - a subject of knowledge of other people - can always identify “sets” of qualities that he tends to attribute to those persons whose “class”, as it seems to him, has been established by him. Indeed, quite often, when evaluating a person as aggressive, people tend to evaluate him as highly energetic, and when evaluating him as kind, attribute honesty to him.

The assessing subject’s own behavior

In a study by Streikland, which was very interesting in terms of the methodological techniques used, the significance of the evaluator’s own behavior in relation to other people was revealed for him to develop a definite opinion about them during a meeting. In Strikeland's experiment, subjects observed two workers performing the same task with equal levels of success. However, if they could observe the actions of one person without interruption, then they saw the work of another only sporadically. From time to time they could express their approval or disapproval to the first person; they had no such connection with the second person. When, in the second part of the experiment, the subjects were asked to say which of the workers needed more control, supervision and guardianship, they almost all answered that the first.

Projection

Self Confidence

The completeness and nature of the assessment of another person also depend on such quality of the assessor as the degree of his self-confidence.

Is the first impression correct?

You can make an impression on a person in just 4 seconds, and then fight with him for 4 years if this impression turns out to be negative.

Within the first few seconds, our subconscious makes conclusions about his or her social status and personality. The fact that most of these conclusions will turn out to be incorrect is of little concern to us. We like to think that we can instantly evaluate a person.

Even more dangerous first impression becomes in cases where it determines our future attitude towards a person. If we don't like someone at first sight. The temptation is great to behave negatively towards him or her. In this case, the interlocutors will probably answer us in the same way. And this will please us, since our first impression will be confirmed, and we will be pleased with our ability to immediately recognize a bad person.

How true is our first impression of a person?

First perceptions, as a rule, give the individual knowledge about the main features of the external appearance of a previously unfamiliar person - about his gender, height, physique, approximate age, and the nature of his appearance. The first impression almost always reflects some manifestations of expression and some actions of the person who is the object of perception and evaluation. Nevertheless, the image of a person that an individual develops on the basis of his first impression always contains inaccuracies, and his assessment of the personality traits of this person can often turn out to be a hasty generalization.

Speaking about the difficulties of correctly judging a person based on first impression, it is appropriate to recall the words of F.M. Dostoevsky, who, speaking about the shortcomings of simple photography of facts, thereby warned against dangerous categorical judgments about people only on the basis of first impressions. “Photographs,” wrote F.M. Dostoevsky, - it is extremely rare that they turn out to be similar, and this is understandable: the original itself, that is, each of us, is extremely rarely similar to itself. In rare moments, a human face expresses its main feature, its most characteristic thought... Photography catches a person as he is, and it is quite possible that Napoleon, in another moment, would have come out stupid, and Bismarck gentle.” Dostoevsky F.M. Full collection Soch., vol. 19 St. Petersburg, 1902, p. 507.

Conclusion

So, the first idea about him that is formed on the basis of short-term contact with a person is a complex psychological process. At the same time, the formation of the first impression is influenced not only by certain characteristics of the personality, which is the object of cognition, but also by the personal qualities of the cognizing, perceiving person: these are the formed “standards”, and the stereotypes fixed in the mind, and the degree of self-confidence of the person. And his usual attitude towards people.

When forming an opinion about a person based on the first impression of a person (which is often necessary in our lives), it is important to remember that the first knowledge does not give an accurate idea of a person and no one is immune from mistakes. You should not judge people too categorically based on their first impression.

List of used literature:

Judy James, Effective Self-Marketing. The art of creating a positive image", Moscow, 1998;

V.M. Shepel “Managerial Psychology”, Moscow, “Economics”, 1984;

A.A. Bodalev “Perception and understanding of man by man”, Ed. Moscow University, 1982.

The stereotypical perception of a person is influenced by the “design” of his appearance. For example, before groups of subjects equal in all respects, the same person acted as the object of impression formation, but he came out to each new group in different clothes. Experiments have shown that when a person appears in a different suit (in ordinary business, work overalls, religious attire, military uniform), then the test groups, in addition to the traits noted in this person by all groups, also named those qualities indicated by the suit, which included the person they were evaluating. For example, when a person was wearing a military uniform, such qualities as discipline, accuracy, perseverance, and openness towards other people were consistently attributed to him. This is partly true, since the profession leaves an imprint on a person’s personality, but only partly.

In the process of perception, not only social stereotypes operate, but also perception stereotypes physiognomic features and human constitution. The media replicate images that are fixed in the mass consciousness and leave an imprint on the perception of specific people. We can cite the most stereotypical perceptions: a square chin is a sign of a strong will, full lips are sexy, thin lips are a hypocrite and a prude, a high forehead is smart, coarse hair is a stubborn character, short stature is a Napoleon complex, a beautiful woman is stupid, etc. .

When forming an impression, the features of a person’s physique and his constitution as a whole are perceived stereotypically. Investigating the influence of a person’s constitution on impressions of him, psychologists asked a group of subjects to characterize personal characteristics men with different body types. Results of forming a first impression:

A plump, rounded man was perceived as warm-hearted, good-natured, talkative, trusting, emotional, open-minded, weak-willed, and fond of food. By comparing with this set of characteristics the real characteristics of a particular person, for example, Winston Churchill, whose body type corresponds to the one presented, one can see how deceiving first impressions can be.

An athletic man was perceived as strong, courageous, energetic, daring, and proactive.

Tall, thin and fragile-looking, the man was perceived as nervous, ambitious, suspicious, and modest.

A plump man was perceived as older than he actually was, and a thin man, as a rule, seemed younger than his age.

Almost every adult who has experience in communication is able to quite accurately determine many of his socio-psychological characteristics from a person’s appearance, his clothing, manner of speaking and behavior: psychological traits, age, social class, approximate profession. But this accuracy occurs only in neutral situations. In other situations, there is almost always one or another percentage of errors. A person is never faced with the task of simply “perceiving” another. The image of a partner that is created when meeting is regulator of subsequent behavior, it is necessary in order to build communication correctly and effectively in a given situation. Our communication is structured in significantly different ways depending on who we are communicating with. For each category of partners there are different “techniques” of communication, the choice of which is determined by the characteristics of the partner. Therefore, the most important characteristics in a given situation are those that allow the partner to be classified into a certain group. It is these characteristics that are perceived quite accurately. And the remaining features and features are simply completed according to certain schemes, and this is where the likelihood of error appears.

In psychology there are three factors in forming a first impression about the person:

1. Superiority factor. People entering into communication are unequal: they differ from each other in their social status, life experience, intellectual potential, etc. The perception scheme is as follows. When we meet a person who is superior to us in some important parameter for us, we evaluate him somewhat more positively than if he were equal to us. If we are dealing with a person whom we are superior in some way, then we underestimate him. Moreover, superiority is recorded in one parameter, while overestimation (underestimation) occurs in many parameters. This perception scheme begins to work not with every, but only with really important, significant inequality for us.

In order for the superiority factor to work, we first need to evaluate this superiority. How to do this? By what signs can we judge a person's superiority, for example, in social status or intellectual? To determine this parameter, we have two main sources of information at our disposal:

a person’s clothing, his external appearance, including such attributes as insignia, glasses, hairstyle, awards, jewelry, car, office interior, etc.;

a person’s behavior (how he sits, walks, talks, where he looks, etc.).

Information about superiority is usually “embedded” in one way or another in clothing and behavior. They always contain elements that indicate a person’s belonging to one or another social group or his orientation towards some group. These elements serve as signs of group affiliation both for the wearer of clothing and behavior, and for the people around him. Understanding your place in a group, in a particular hierarchy, as well as the position of other people largely determines communication and interaction. Therefore, highlighting superiority by some external, visible means is always important.

2. Attractiveness factor. The effect of this factor in human perception is that under its influence, some qualities of a person are overestimated or underestimated by other people. The operating pattern of this factor is such that if we like a person (outwardly), then at the same time we tend to consider him smarter, better, more interesting, etc., that is, again, to overestimate many of his personal characteristics. For example, in the experiment, teachers were asked to evaluate the “personal affairs” of students and were tasked with determining the level of intelligence, plans for the future, and relationships with peers. The secret of the experiment was that the same case was given for evaluation, but with different photographs - “beautiful” and “ugly” children. Beautiful children received a higher assessment of their capabilities. So, the more externally attractive a person is to us, the better he seems in all other respects; if he is unattractive, then his other qualities are underestimated.

But everyone knows that in different times different things were considered attractive, that different nations have their own canons of beauty. This means that attractiveness cannot be considered only an individual impression, it is more of a social nature. Therefore, signs of attractiveness should be sought first of all not in this or that eye shape or hair color, but in social significance of a particular human characteristic. After all, there are types of appearance that are approved and not approved by society or a specific social group. And attractiveness is nothing more than the degree of approximation to the type of appearance that is maximally approved by the group to which we belong. A sign of attractiveness is a person's effort to look socially approved.

It is important to emphasize that the attractiveness factor strongly influences the content of the emerging image of a person only at the moment of forming the first impression. In the future, the assessment of this person increasingly begins to be determined by the nature of interaction with him and the value of his deeds and actions.

In addition to external attractiveness, the most important thing isnonverbal human behavior. Occupies a special place man's look . If a person does not look away, does not look “past” another, does not lower his eyes down, then the opinion of a more confident, more benevolent person is formed about him, and this is due to the idea that people have in the past experience that, on the one hand, a strong-willed person By nature, a person is not afraid to look people in the eyes, on the other hand, if a person fixes his gaze on us, it means that he is interested in us in some way. It turned out that it is also important pose , in which a person is located during a conversation. People like those who lean their torso forward when speaking more than those who lean their torso back. We unconsciously connect sound of voice with certain personality characteristics. An unbalanced or hysterical person is strongly associated with a shrill voice. Rapid but slightly halting speech will convey uncertainty. The languid voice reveals a sensual but cautious nature. And a person who speaks sluggishly and drawls his words can give the impression of a klutz. A sonorous voice, most often, indicates a cheerful disposition. Scientists have discovered an interesting pattern – they believe that the emotions of anger and fear make the voice sound older, and the emotions of joy “reduce” age.

3. Factor of attitude towards us. This factor acts in such a way that people who treat us well are valued higher than those who treat us poorly. A sign of attitude towards us, which triggers the corresponding scheme of perception, is everything that indicates the partner’s agreement or disagreement with us. Having identified the subjects' opinions on a number of issues, psychologists introduced them to the opinions of other people and asked them to evaluate these opinions. It turned out that The closer someone else’s opinion is to your own, the higher the assessment of the person who expressed this opinion.. This rule had a retroactive effect: the higher someone was rated, the greater the similarity found in his views with their own. The conviction in this supposed “kinship of souls” was so great that the subjects simply did not notice any disagreements with the position of the attractive person.

system forming a first impression can be roughly represented as a “stencil” that we apply to other people. Forming a first impression almost always means that an individual assigns the perceived person to one of the groups of people in those “type classifications” that he developed in the past. People who meet our standard are perceived by us with a “plus” sign, while those with significant differences are perceived with a “minus” sign. Those who occupy an intermediate place are perceived neutrally - until a certain action, after which the first impression changes. In an effort to create a positive first impression, it is necessary to take into account all the details that our communication partner, consciously or not, pays attention to.

The question of how accurate an impression is is not an easy one. The first impression task is quickly navigate the situation. For people, as social beings, the main thing is to determine the question of a partner’s group affiliation. Therefore, we can say that the first impression is almost always correct. The mistake is that stereotyping causes a certain assessment of properties and qualities that are still unknown, which can lead to inadequate communication in the future.

Federal Agency for Education

Federal State educational institution higher professional education

"SOUTHERN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY"

Faculty of Psychology

Department of Social Psychology

Project assignment

Features of the formation of the first impression.

Completed by a 2nd year student, 3rd grade.

Emelyanova Marina

Rostov-on-Don

How are first impressions formed?

In everyday life, in work and non-work environments, every person meets new people. In many cases, based on short-term perceptions alone, we evaluate these people and choose what seems to us the most reasonable way of behavior and action in relation to each of them. In all such cases, we are dealing with the so-called first impression and with acts of behavior based on it.

The process of perceiving a person by a person is important stage in building interpersonal communication. A lot of theoretical and applied research has been devoted to this problem, both here and abroad. Special attention These works focus on the phenomenon of first impression formation, which is quite long time plays the role of a kind of psychological attitude towards the individual.

The first impression is a complex psychological phenomenon that includes sensory, logical and emotional components. It always includes certain features of the appearance and behavior of the person who turns out to be the object of knowledge. The first impression also contains more or less conscious and generalized value judgments. Finally, it always contains an emotional attitude towards the person who is the subject of perception and evaluation. Research by various scientists suggests that to form a first impression a person only needs from a few seconds (40 seconds) to several minutes (2-4 minutes). Although first impressions can often be deceiving, we often judge other people by them.

The formation of the first impression is influenced by several factors:

Characteristics of a person’s external appearance. Appearance design (including clothing style, hairstyle).

Human expression (experienced or transmitted emotional states).

Behavior.

Perceived personality traits.

Some psychological personal characteristics of the perceiving person.

Established stereotypes and standards regarding the ideals of appearance and behavior;

Based on the above, we can conclude that appearance and behavior play a leading role in forming the first impression of a person. Seeing a beautiful “cover”, a person subconsciously attributes to it the presence of worthy content.

Personality characteristics of the perceiving person

It is interesting to determine exactly what factors in the subject’s personality determine the course and results of the formation of his impressions of other people.

Standards

Stereotypes

A person - a subject of cognition of other people - can always identify “sets” of qualities that he tends to attribute to those persons whose “class”, as it seems to him, has been established by him. This phenomenon of “attributing” entire “sets” of certain qualities to a cognizable personality on the basis of attributing it, according to the qualities seen in it, to some “class” of persons is called “stereotyping”, and “sets of qualities that a person “attributes” to the personality he cognizes, - “evaluative stereotypes”. Translated from Greek, “stereotype” means “solid imprint.” These are images or ideas that are persistently preserved in the mind, which are an emotionally charged prejudice or a stable assessment.

Outwardly attractive people appear confident, friendly, successful, energetic, balanced and happy. No matter how unfair it may be in many cases, beautiful people They are also considered refined and richer spiritually than ugly people. (So, even the same handwriting is considered more beautiful, provided that it belongs to an attractive person). Biased judgments lead to the fact that nice children are much more likely to forgive pranks and “simply cannot be angry with them” compared to ordinary children.

Being plump makes a person more mature in the eyes of others, thinness makes a person look younger.

Facial expression and gaze play a big role. So, if a person looks with a direct, long and open gaze, he is credited with self-confidence and a tendency to lead. Moreover, if a woman is endowed with such a look, she is tended to be considered attentive to other people.

If a person looks at others briefly, sideways, quickly moving his gaze, those who perceive him evaluate him as a shy, insecure person.

Of course, when assessing a person, his pantomime is also examined, various characteristics voices, smells

Projection

Research has shown that in the process of forming the first impression, the process of “projection” is involved, which consists in the fact that the cognizing subject can “invest” his states in another person, attributing to him traits that are actually inherent in himself and which the person being assessed may not have.

Self Confidence

The completeness and nature of the assessment of another person also depend on such quality of the assessor as the degree of his self-confidence.

Conclusion.

You can make an impression on a person in just 4 seconds, and then fight with him for 4 years if this impression turns out to be negative. So, the first idea about him that is formed on the basis of short-term contact with a person is a complex psychological process. At the same time, the formation of the first impression is influenced not only by certain characteristics of the personality, which is the object of cognition, but also by the personal qualities of the cognizing, perceiving person: these are formed “standards”, and stereotypes fixed in the mind, and the degree of self-confidence of a person, and habitual his attitude towards people.

In order to appear in the eyes of people as a person with a large set of positive qualities, you can use such techniques as self-presentation and self-presentation of superiority (self-confidence), self-presentation of attractiveness, self-presentation of attitude (it is recommended to use the “Golden Rule” of morality, self-presentation of the current state and reasons for behavior “It’s not my fault...”, “It just so happened.” ...”, “I should have ...” - these and similar expressions try to attract the attention of the interlocutor to those reasons for behavior that we consider the most acceptable.

If you want to better understand your interlocutor, you cannot ignore how he tries to present himself. Clothes and behavior speak volumes about this. In any case, no matter how it manifests itself, self-presentation conveys the inner mood of a person. When forming an opinion about a person based on a first impression, it is important to remember that the first knowledge does not give an accurate picture of a person and no one is immune from mistakes. You should not judge people too categorically based on their first impression.