First Impressions

The human brain unconsciously remembers the emotions triggered by the faces of others. This is according to researchers at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Geneva regarding the first impression that becomes imprinted in our minds shortly after seeing someone or speaking to them.

The first impression is not always wrong, as some believe. Sometimes it takes root in the mind and cannot be shaken off. How often we wrong people because we did not give them enough time to express their true selves. And how often we have been deceived by people to whom we gave our trust and love based on a first impression, only to find they did not deserve it.

How do we break free from the complex of the first impression? In our folk proverbs it is said: “No love but after acquaintance.” As if we want to say that a mistaken first impression can be a gateway to correction. But others say you will not get a second chance to make a first impression.

The first impression is the source of the initial mental image — the cognitive unconscious toward the other. We may be right or wrong in our first impression, but we must reinforce this image with subsequent knowledge, the demands and variables of life — for we are dealing with a human being whose inclinations, circumstances, directions, and even values may change. And then the first impression no longer holds any validity.