5 Ways We Unconsciously (Mis)Judge People on First Impressions

With personal examples and ways to avoid bias

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

I have had the absolute privilege to travel to over a dozen countries and actually “live” in three very different ones — India which is my home country, America and Hong Kong.

The first interaction we have with others is typically the first time we see someone. While a quick glance at someone without even exchanging a word is not even a complete interaction, the human mind is prone to drawing a bunch of inferences very quickly.

Some studies indicate that even facts are unable to change some of the biases we form based on first impressions. That doesn’t seem a fair thing to do — so our best bet is probably to not let first impressions be influenced by some of our obvious biases. Let’s take a look at some of these.

#1 — Hair color and style (or the lack of it)

I have a cousin who is typically the first to try the most outrageous things that aren’t even real trends yet. He’s been that way right since high school, but as he got older, his nature remained the same, but the context changed.

He’s 6 years older than me so when I was still in college, he had already landed a consulting job at a small-ish consulting…