WORDS

1. ancestor -n. any member of your family from long ago, for example, the grandparents of your
grandparents
2. assessment - n. the act of judging or deciding the amount, value, quality, or importance of
something, or the judgment or decision that is made
3. an external cue- a signal for someone to do or say something, esp. in a play or movie
~When giving cues, we can categorize the type of cue into those that have an external focus
and those that have an internal focus. External cues are generally used when the goal is to
produce a better objective performance (e.g. a longer jump or a greater power output).
4. approachability- adj. the ability of being friendly and easy to talk to
5. hardwired - informal; If someone or something is hardwired to do a particular thing, they
automatically do it and cannot change that behaviour
specialized (computing) A computer or electronic device that is hardwired is built to work in a
particular way and you cannot change the way it performs with new software, etc.
6. predatory - adj. A predatory animal kills and eats other animals; People or organizations who
are predatory tend to use others for their own advantage
7. prehistoric - adj. happening in the period of human history before there were written records
8. social status - n. a person's standing or importance in relation to other people within a
society.
9. subtle - adj. not loud, bright, noticeable, or obvious
10. determine - v. (DECIDE) to control or influence directly; to decide
- v. (DISCOVER) to find out or make certain facts or information
11. discern - v. to be able to see, recognize, understand, or decide something
12. draw a conclusion - to decide what to believe about something after you have considered
the facts
13. inherit - to receive money, property, or possessions from someone after the person has
died
~biology: To inherit particular characteristics is to receive them from the parents through the
genes (= chemical patterns).
14. trustworthiness -n. deserving of trust, or able to be trusted

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STORY
1. What do people do during job interviews, on first dates, and when meeting new
coworkers?
People make assessments of one another very quickly .
2. How quickly can impressions of someone’s approachability and trustworthiness be
formed?
Impressions of someone’s approachability and trustworthiness can be formed within a tenth of a
second.
3. What did our prehistoric ancestors have to do?
Our prehistoric ancestors had to quickly discern predatory from non-predatory creatures in
order to survive .
4. What do we often revise after meeting people a few times?
We often revise our impressions of people after meeting them a few times.

Story Review
Tell the student what you found interesting about this story

FIRST IMPRESSION

We’ve all heard about the importance of first impressions and how hard it is to change them
later. In fact, research tells us it only takes the duration of an eye blink to size up another person
in terms of attractiveness and trustworthiness. Over the next three seconds, we form a more
“complete” conclusion about a new acquaintance relating to their presumed personality and
competence.

The rate at which different qualities are detected in first impressions may be linked to what has
been important to survival from an evolutionary perspective. [11] For example, trustworthiness
and attractiveness were the two traits most quickly detected and evaluated in a study of human
faces.[11][12] People are fairly good at assessing personality traits of others in general, but
there appears to be a difference in first impression judgments between older and younger
adults. Older adults judged young adult target photos as healthier, more trustworthy, and less
hostile, but more aggressive, than younger adults did of the same photos.[14] Older adults
could have a lower response to negative cues due to a slower processing speed, causing them
to see facial features on young adults as more positive than younger adults do.[14]

First impressions are always used in setting the tone when you first meet someone.
Without the luxury of knowing the persons background, you initially judge someone by the way
that person introduces themselves and how they come across to you. By coming across, I mean
the way a person carries themselves. For example, if the person comes across as shy and
introverted, you tend to think of that person as timid and somewhat weak. However, if that same
person comes across as outgoing, confident (but not to confident) and easy to talk to, you look
at that person as someone you can count on and possibly a leader. This type of evaluation
(even though we all do it) is for the most part not always the right way to evaluate a person.