All our lives, we’ve been told not to judge a book by its cover—a metaphorical phrase which tells us not to judge the quality or character of someone or something just by looking at them.
Sage advice from the wisest and the grayest—but that really doesn’t stop you from going ahead and judging people by their faces.
And it’s not just you. Even the ones who told you not to do the judging can’t help but judge people at first glance.
The first glance
How many times have you met someone and felt a sudden rush of emotions, good or bad? There may have been times when you felt uncomfortable hanging around someone new, and you couldn’t wait to get out of the room.
It may be your first date with a very cute guy or girl, but at times, we can’t help it when our involuntary genes decide to kick in and make the plans for us on the very first look.
The science behind the first look
Psychologists have found that people respond intuitively to faces so rapidly that our reasoning minds may not have time to influence the reaction. It’s almost like an involuntary shiver.
We just can’t rationalize our decision, and so we pretend to be very intellectual and blame it on our sharp instincts. These “instincts” help us choose the friends we would be most comfortable with, and also helps us in choosing the right mate.
You’ve obviously known there was always something more than just good looks that attracted you to your sweetheart, didn’t you?
Facial features and the first glance
The link between facial features and character may not exist in reality. Seriously, someone who looks bad doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad person, do they? But this fact doesn’t stop our minds from sizing other people in the first glance. It may not be all about beauty and appearances,
but we tend to decide very quickly whether a person has many of the requirements we feel are rather important to the instinctive side of us, such as likability and warmth, even though we may not have exchanged a single word with them.
It seems like all of us are programmed in the head to jump to conclusions really fast, without really spending any time to think.
Let’s just remember the first day at college. You didn’t know anyone, but most of the time, you ended up with the bunch of people you hung out with for the whole year, or you’re still probably pals with them even now. This might not be the case at all times, but more often than not, you know it’s true. There’s just something about that first glance, isn’t it?
The study of faces and the first look
A study was conducted by researchers, and the observers were asked to look at different faces for different durations of time, one tenth of a second, half a second or a full second.
After each face flashed on the screen and vanished, the observers marked whether they found the face to be trustworthy or not, and also how confident they were in their analysis. Other experiments conducted in similar fashion tested for different specific traits, such as likability and competence.
It was also found in the test that, when more time was given to the observers, the judgment did not change. The observers only became more confident of their answers as the duration lengthened.
The reason behind these quick judgments is not clear, but researchers say that there may be a part of the undiscovered brain that may be directly linked to judgments of trustworthiness.
Our minds experience a rapid cognition when making decisions quickly, especially when it comes to first impressions.
But the researchers also say that the first impression may help attract a few people, but the rational mind comes into the picture eventually and overcomes the intuitive decision. As times goes by, you would get to know these people a lot better and you would develop a better conception of them based on real life experiences.
The studies could not pinpoint the actual part of the face that lead to a particular trait inference, but the most probable aspect could be the symmetry or the proportions of its features.
So the next time you bump into someone and like them instantly, or detest the person, don’t worry. It’s just your mind trying to take over your parents’ job of choosing the best friends or mate for you.
And the next time you fall for someone at the first look, or like someone at the very first glance, don’t think twice. Chances are, you’re going to like this person for a long time. (Source: lovepanky.com)
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