1Tyrone Schiff First Impressions: Early BehaviorsHuman beings are inherently social creatures who crave interactions andinterpersonal relationships. What indelibly makes all humans so unique is the fact thateach one’s social behavior is distinctly different to the next. It ought to be established that people encounter and react to situations in varying manners. Certainly, interactions and behaviors amongst people evolve gradually over time, yet at the onset of theseinteractions, what are the initial behaviors that are employed? When people interact for the first time, what are their ideas, cognitions, and stereotypes about each other? The firsttime that people interact with one another is an absolutely critical point in thedevelopment of the relationship that is to possibly ensue amongst them.Entering a large school like the University of Michigan, one will undoubtedly become proficient in the rituals that take place during the primary interaction withanother. Students attending Michigan come from all over the country, and one of thehighest priorities is to become familiar with their surroundings. Getting to know people by interacting is a method commonly used to attain this necessary goal.Personally, one of the deciding factors in picking Michigan was the opportunity tomeet a number of new and interesting people. I came to Michigan knowing only a few people, but those that I did know were involved in the Greek system. I was advised that partaking in the “rush” events held by these Greek Fraternities was an easy way to meetand get to know a lot of different guys on campus. Without much vacillation, I decided toattend some of these “rush” events.At all of these events there were a number of guys that I could introduce myself to. Men in the fraternity are always trying to recruit new prospects, and the initial

2Tyrone Schiff interaction between myself and a member named Sam Scharff during these “rush” eventsis indicative of the type of social behaviors exhibited by two people interacting for thefirst time.Initial interactions are essentially standard processes, and this is clearly evidenced by the mundane nature in which they occur. Each time I met a new person it was as if itwas a carbon copy of the last conversation; similar questions, surprisingly similar answers, and very little emotional attachment to the conversation. Specifically, this paper discusses the social behavior associated with the cognitions immediately before andduring the initial interaction one has with another. Thus, initial interaction shall bedefined as a brief meeting with someone with whom an individual has never beenacquainted with before. Allow me to speak more in depth about the social behaviors Iencountered when interacting with Sam Scharff for the first time.The conversation began harmlessly with a handshake. Immediately, I wouldnotice the firmness of his grip and would attempt to figure out what type of personality Iwas dealing with solely based on this fact. While this goes on, I took a look at what hewas wearing, trying to learn as much as I possibly can before either one of us has openedour mouths. He is dressed in shirt and tie and looks well put together. As we begin toconverse, I listen to his voice, trying to distinguish whether he is confident or not. Asession of simple questions and answers then occurs. Names were exchanged, where wewere both originally from, what courses we were taking, sports I played in high school,and what we intended to major in eventually. Each of these answers did not require toomuch though on my part, and seemed to almost come naturally from within. Essentially,this initial process was merely in pursuit of trying to find commonalities between us. For

3Tyrone Schiff instance, when he heard that I was Northbrook, Illinois he asked whether or not I knewsome of his friends who were from my hometown who also attended the University of Michigan. After talking about these superficial topics for a while, there would be a lull inthe conversation, at which point I would be passed off to meet someone new. After walking away I would reconsider the types of things I had said and imagined theinteraction going differently. Even with a new person, the process would occur just as itdid the time before but with the slightest variances.There are a few select pieces of this social interaction that require further scrutiny.In particular, consider the fact that during this initial interaction the questions asked andanswers given were not filled with a lot of emotion. It was almost as though I had been programmed to give a particular answer to a given question. This point will be analyzedthroughout the rest of the paper as it relates quite blatantly to the cognitive heuristicstheory, which entails the fact that people are “cognitive misers”. Furthermore, consider the fact that when I first interacted with him, I looked and listened for signals which I hadcome to symbolize as being representative of particular qualities. I was developing anattitude and forming stereotypes about this person who I had known for no more thanthree minutes. In sociological terms this correlates to the symbolic interactionism theory.First, let us discuss cognitive heuristics. As Thomas Gilovich, professor of psychology at Cornell University, puts it, “[…] all things being equal, people prefer tothink as little as possible in reaching decisions” (p.37). This statement describes a“cognitive miser”, which establishes the foundation for heuristics. Due to the fact thatwhen people first meet one another they aren’t as willing to open up, they employcognitive heuristics in order to conserve as much effort as possible regarding expressing