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Physical appearance and impression formation
 One of the central variables that influences impression formation is physical appearance. Physically attractive people are perceived as smarter, more sociable, and more interesting <REF>(Clifford, 1975; Eagly & Makhijani, 1991). The face, in particular, plays a strong role in the impressions that we form. Women with baby-faced features are judged to be more attractive than women with mature facial features. They are also rated as warmer, kinder, and more honest <REF>(Zebrowitz-McArthur, 1996). In contrast, men with mature facial features are judged to be more attractive and dominant than men with baby-faced features <REF>(Sadalla, Kenrick, & Vershure (1987). Making attributions
Although our perceptions of others often begin with first impressions, they usually don't end there. <REF>Fritz Heider (1958), the founder of attribution theory, suggested that we are often as concerned with knowing why a person behaved in a particular way as we are with knowing what they are generally like. According to attribution theory, people are motivated to look for the causes of behavior and they tend to locate those causes in the dynamics of situations and the dispositions of persons. Imagine, for example, that it is early morning on the opening day of a new ski season and that you are about to make your first run down the mountain. As you ride up on the ski lift, you hear a panicked scream, followed by a horrible thud. You look down and see some hapless skier rolling end over end, followed by Hans and Ingmar, blonde gods of the ski patrol, stretcher in tow. As you sway in the bone-chilling cold, what goes through your mind? Probably a simple question, "Why?" Why did this poor soul meet this terrible fate? Was it something about the skier? Perhaps he is a novice who thought he was on the beginner's slope. Or was it something about the mountain? Perhaps the hill is particularly icy. Notice that how you answer these questions - the attributions you make - will influence your own behavior. If you decide that the accident was the fault of the skier, then you can tackle the hill with confidence. On the other hand, if you decide it was something about the hill, then you can approach it more cautiously. |
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