The First Impression

Plenty of thought goes everyday in our mind, they usually depend upon our day to day activities. In these, we think how to tackle our problems, do analysis, and infer judgment. One of the thought processes which everyone is part of is First Impression. Our thought process is in constant build up to the existing one since the day we are born. Primarily they are reliant upon our family background, social interaction, religious faith, friend circle etc. When we come across a new thing, we start to gather our thoughts related to that particular thing, and then we start making connections between the thoughts that come up. Then organize them properly to generate a conclusion or inference that is known as first impression for that thing. It is unique for every individual. Identical thing goes when we develop our first intuition for different people with whom we meet for the first instance. It is a very multifaceted build up of thoughts and inferences.

I think it is very important in our life, since it decides how one is going to interact with the person after meeting for the first time. The manner in which we will present ourselves speak, show gestures, listen, and respond will all depend upon the initial impression which we have built. It all goes well if the person behaves as we think. But the predicament arrives when the person starts behaving in the inadvertent manner. And I think, most of the time this is the circumstance. Then, what is the conclusion for above explanation? If we construe the person in a mistaken way then we are definitely not going to have good rapport with him/her. Take the example of Shahid Afridi, in his first ODI innings he scored the fastest century (37 balls), and till now this records hold. After watching this inning most us might have concluded that he is going to be a great player. But, the people who follow cricket closely might have seen his technique of batting, his approach while facing different line and length balls. After that, they would have concluded that he treats every ball in the same way, and this not going to help him in a long run. And this is what it turned out. I have cited above example to stress out the fact that it is not true that our interpretation is always going to be correct. Since we always see things, perceive, and draw conclusions depending upon over thoughts, observations. Our thoughts are not universal that will hold true for everyone.

I don’t say we are incorrect, since we can’t interpret what other think, or articulating in a different way, it is out of our scope to do so. But we have to be versatile in our thinking. Once we make our impression for a person, then we must be ready to amend it after later interactions with the person. This will modify our inferences in a better way in knowing the person.