What is the First Impression Bias?
The first impression bias describes how we make quick judgements about others that are often subject to bias or error. The theory stems from the idea that humans are limited in their information processing abilities and will often rely on the first piece(s) of information they receive.
The Basic Idea
Everyone wants to make a good first impression, whether it’s for a job interview or meeting a partner’s parents for the first time. But did you know that we have less than a minute to do so? Behavioral scientists call it the first impression bias: a limitation in human information processing that causes us to make quick and incomplete observations about others based on the first piece of information we perceive.9
First impressions are often very important, as they lead to quick assumptions and judgements. It takes as little as a tenth of a second or up to 30 seconds to make a first impression; moreover, there is much debate as to whether these impressions are even accurate. The first impression bias has implications for employment, relationships, ideas, business, and even medicine.
Your first impression of a thing sets up your subsequent beliefs. If the company looks inept to you, you may assume everything else they do is inept.
