Blog #1: Negative First Impressions are Hard to Change

While trying desperately to think of some interesting story that would display a concept of social psychology, I realized that I already had an example right in front of me, an experience that took place on this very campus, in the commons to be more specific.

My freshman year here at Southwestern, I may have committed an act that exhibited the trait negativity bias, with a little bit of the primacy effect thrown in, just for good measure. The trait negativity bias occurs when negative information is noticed more and taken into account more than positive information (Rozin & Royzman, 2001; Skowronski & Carlston, 1989), and the primacy effect is the belief that the first traits displayed, or the first pieces of information received, matter more than what occurs later on (Asch, 1946).

At the beginning of my first semester at SU, before I had learned the rules of the cafeteria, I happened to make a pretty bad first impression on a certain cafeteria worker who shall not be named. (Although, to avoid any confusion, this cafeteria worker is not very vocal about her favorite day of the week.) After swiping my pirate card, I asked Peggy Sue, the cafeteria worker, for a to-go box. She kindly gave me one. Then I messed up big time by taking a tray in addition to my to-go box, and nonchalantly headed over to the dinner line to fill up both my box and my tray with delicious commons food. Peggy Sue noticed immediately and delivered an ultimatum: either the tray or the box had to go--I could not have both. I chose the tray, but before I could escape Peggy Sue's glare, she got one long, good look at my face, while she probably silently vowed never to forget me and the trouble I had caused.

Needless to say, I made a bad first impression on Peggy Sue. In my subsequent visits to the cafeteria, I would always smile sweetly and try to start positive conversations with Peggy Sue, but I could never seem to shake her negative opinion of me. Later on, I ended up losing my pirate card while very hungry, but Peggy Sue would not let me into the cafeteria until I found it. To this day, I am convinced that when I walk into the commons, she still sees me the way she saw me at the beginning of freshman year when I tried to take twice as much dinner as I was supposed to.

And you know what? It makes sense. Because of trait negativity bias, my poor behavior that day, in a sea of rules-following cafeteria visitors, probably stood out like a sore thumb. Peggy Sue most likely took notice of my actions in order to safeguard the cafeteria in the future, should I choose to participate in more shenanigans. Although I behaved like a good little girl for the rest of my freshman year, the negativity I displayed in my first interaction with Peggy Sue weighed more than all the positivity in the world. In addition, my consistent kindness and respect for the cafeteria rules following my run-in with Peggy Sue have just not been enough due to the primacy effect because my first interaction with Peggy Sue carried more of an impact on her impression of me than later interactions.

So whether or not Peggy Sue's opinion of me ever changes, I have definitely learned my lesson: making a good first impression is very important!

Asch, S. E. (1946). Forming impressions of personality. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 41(3), 258-290.

Rozin, P., & Royzman, E. B. (2001). Negativity bias, negativity dominance, and contagion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5(4), 296-320.

Skowronski, J. J., & Carlston, D. E. (1989). Negativity and extremity biases in impression formation: A review of explanations. Psychological Bulletin, 105(1), 131-142.