First Impression...

Everyday we are getting acquainted with someone in school, in working place or somewhere else. When we firstly meet somebody and have a talk with him or her, we have some opinions about this person in our minds. We may think that “This guy is really enjoyable.” Or “That girl is so boring.” These first thoughts affect our behaviours to that person. For the first time we meet somebody, his/her some kind of features define our first opinions, like physical appearance, talking style also gestures, mimics and his/her reactions to other people. These are important things but I wonder if we ever think about this situation. According to these features, can we comment on a person as good or bad? To which extent our first feelings about a person can be right?

Let’s think about physical appearance. When we see somebody at first hand, of course we pay attention his/her physical appearance. Is he/she well dressed? Are his/her clothes clean? etc. But I don’t think that from these aspects we can judge a person as enjoyable, boring or something like that. Physical appearance is important but it isn’t enough for commenting on somebody. According to me, it can’t be a means for knowing somebody.

We are all sharing our feelings by way of talking and to recognize somebody, it is crucial. So talking style and also gestures mimics are so important for communication. I can say that especially in first contact, they have really important missions. If a person speaks badly, for example he/she uses abusive language, we may not be willing to be with that person in the following times. But if a person speaks kindly, we aren’t disturbed when talking with him/her. So our friendship with that person isn’t limited with first meeting. I think that talking is more important than physical appearance for knowing someone but again it isn’t enough for reaching a conclusion about a person.

Lastly we came a person’s first reactions to other people. At first when we meet somebody, generally we may be a bit shy. Actually it is related to our characteristics. Some of us are really warm even in first contact with someone. I think that these first attitudes also affect our first ideas about a person. If someone is so friendly, maybe more than needed, we may think that he/she is acting. So we can’t trust him or her. Or if someone behaves coldly in first meeting, this time we may get bored. Briefly these also have effects on our ideas about somebody. But I want to again say that these are temporary opinions about a new met person.

From all these examples, I can say that first impression is important, but of course to some extent. It can’t be really a means for commenting on someone’s characteristics. To know somebody with all his/her features, what we should do is spending time together. People can recognize eachother as time passes. For this reason, I can say that first impression may be important but I am absulately sure that it can’t be decisive for arriving a conclusion on a person’s characteristics..