Do we care about making a good impression on others? Research findings indicate that we should because such impressions do seem to exert strong and lasting effects on other persons' perception of us

But what exactly are first impressions? How they are formed? And what steps can we take to make sure that we make first impression on others?

In the words of Solomon Asch, pioneer in study of impression formation, we can put it as forming impressions of others involves more than simply adding together individual traits. We perceive these traits in relation to one another so that these traits cease to exist individually, instead, part of an integrated dynamic whole.

Impression formation is the process through which we form impression of others. When we meet others for the first time, we don’t pay equal attention to all kind of information/trait about them. Rather we focus on the certain kinds of information which we view as being most useful.

In order to form a lasting impression, we must enter various kinds of information into memory so that we can recall it at later times; we see others through our lens of our own traits, motives and desires.

Cognitive perspective on impression management has provided many valuable insights. Research suggest that although we seem to form impressions of others in a rapid and seemingly effortless manner, these impressions emerge out of operation of cognitive processes relating to storage, recall and integration of social information.

Impression management is efforts by the individuals to produce favorable first impression on others. Person who perform impression management successfully do often gain advantage in many situations.

While individuals use different techniques for boosting their image, most of them fall into two major categories

• Self -Enhancement- to increase their appeal to others
• Other -enhancement-to make the target person feel good

Self enhancement

Includes efforts to increase their physical appearance through dress style, personal grooming and various uses of props. Additional self enhancement tactics includes describing oneself in positive terms.

Other Enhancement

Individuals use many different tactics to induce positive moods and reaction in others.

The most common enhancement used is flattery i.e. making statements that praise the target his or her traits or accomplishment or the organisation with which person is associated. Such tactics are often highly successful, provided they are not overdone.

Other tactics involves

• expressing agreement with targets view
• showing high degree of interest
• doing small favors for them
• asking for their advice
• feedback in some manner
• expressing liking for them non verbally
• high level of eye contact
• nodding in agreement & smiling

Correspondence Biasis

We have a strong tendency to attribute others' behavior to internal causes even when strong external factors might have influenced their present behavior. To reduce this error, always try to put yourself in the shoes of person whose behavior you are trying to explain

Actor -Observer effect-

“I BEHAVE AS I DO BECAUSE OF SITUATIONAL CAUSES; YOU BEHAVE AS YOU DO BECAUSE YOU ARE THAT KIND OF PERSON"

To minimize this error, try to imagine yourselves in their place.

Self Serving Bias: