Why Making A Good First Impression, Before You Even Speak To Them, Is So Important

A first impression is when a person forms an overall opinion of you, using any information on you that they first have.

Some people may form a first impression of you based on just your looks – and you may have also done this before too!

First impressions

In this case, we are going to talk about a first impression where the other person hasn’t spoken to you and only has what they see from afar to make their first impression.

This may sound like an unfair way to judge someone, especially if you get caught on a bad day where you decided against changing out of your slept-in jogging bottoms.

However – the ‘judging a book by its cover’ mentality is the reality and this blog will explain why first impressions are so important to get right and how we can use them to our advantage.

The importance of a first impression

Research shows that it only takes one tenth of a second for a person to form a first impression of you – now, this isn’t a long time to make sure it is a good first impression and this is why first impressions are so important.

Once a first impression is formed it can be very hard to change, even if that person actually gets a chance to speak to you.

Whether or not you make a good first impression, can actually determine how that person will react to you if you do decide to go over and speak to them.

If they have seen you scowling at other people, they may have already decided that you don’t seem like a friendly person, and if you do decide to go over, they may have already decided that they are not that interested in you.

Therefore, you always need to be prepared to make a good first impression!

How a good first impression can double your chances of success

When someone is making their first impression of you, they will judge your body language, your facial expressions, and your physical appearance.

If somebody believes that you are physically attractive, they then may also assume that you are friendly too – this is known as the halo effect.

The halo effect is when a person has positive traits in one area, people are more likely to believe that they have positive traits in all other areas too.

If someone is dressed smart, people may assume that they are successful, smart, and polite too – but this may not even be the case!

Or if someone went out in their pyjamas, you may assume that they are lazy or unattractive – but, again this may also not be the case.

If you can create a good first impression with your physical appearance, body language and facial expressions, the other person is also more likely to believe that you have other positive traits too and they may also give you a more positive response if you do decide to speak to them

However, we still need to be able to back this up and not rely solely on the halo effect…

If you enjoyed the tips from this blog, they are all taken from our dating course that has over 70 practical tips and advice to help you build confidence and know exactly what to say and do, from the first impression all the way to the first date. Check out our course here!