SOSIAL PSYCHOLOGY ASSIGNMENT

TOPIC:

IMPRESSION FORMATION AND MANAGEMENT

SUBMITTED BY: KINGSFORD OTABIL

18BPY001

DATE:18/07/19
IMPRESSION FORMATION: This can be defined as the mental representation of others base on our interaction with
them.

According to research, some social perception such as attribution requires much effort in doing that, but in
contrast, forming first impression seems to be effortless. According to Solomon Asch in the year 1946, just a first
glance is enough for us to form impression.

According to research, when Asch conducted his research, social psychologist were much influenced by the work of
gestalt psychologist. They were much concern on the basic principle known as “the whole is bigger than the sum of
its parts”. Asch applied this principle in the impression formation. He suggested that we do not form impression by
adding the various observable traits of others, instead we perceive these traits as relation to others.
 HOW QUICKLY AND ACCURATE ARE FIRST IMPRESSION FORMED

According to research, it has been concluded that first impression is accurate . Many studies shows that even
what we called “thin slices” information about others such as photos and videos are being able to use to form
first impression.

According to research, in one study, participants were asked to view the face of a stranger for a very short
time, let say half a second. Then they rated the stranger on several traits such as trustworthy, attractive etc.
Then other people were also allowed to take a view of the same stranger for a longer period of time. After the
experiment, they found that there was a strong correlation between the two participant indicating that first
impression can be formed very quickly and also accurate.
 CAN FIRST IMPRESSION BE CHANGED

According to research, giving our first impression about others can sometimes not be accurate base on some
conditions. According to research, our first impression can be changed under these conditions.

# REINTERPRETATION OF INITIAL IMFORMATION

#RELEVANCY OF NEW INFORMATION.

From the above conditions only can our first impression be change. That is after we have formed our first
impression about others and later we get new information about that person, we depend on the relevancy of the
new information in other to change our first impression.
 IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT

This is the term use to describe the process by which we put in effort to look favorable in the sight of others or make
good impression on others.

According to research, we use several techniques for impression management but the most frequent ones are

#SELF ENHANCEMENT

#OTHER ENHANCEMENT

SELF ENHANCEMENT is our effort to increase our appeal to others while the OTHER ENHANCEMENT is the ability to
make the target person feel good in various ways.

According to research, impression management is very good thing but too much of it can produce negative result.