Whenever we see or meet someone for the first time, we immediately judge them. There are different things we notice about them that give us an impression and this helps us to make a decision about what kind of person they are. Basically, we quickly imagine their entire background and decide whether we like them or not within a few seconds. Read all of the questions below and answer ONE of them in the comments..
1. What things about people do you notice when you first meet/see them? How do these things help you judge them?
2. Have you ever been wrong in your judgement of someone? What happened?
3. Why are we so quick about judging people? What are the good and bad things about judging people?
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This topic is interesting and I'd like to answer #1. I usually notice whether they are kind, positive, cheerful, interesting, helpful or not. This will help me not to make friends with bad people.
ReplyDeleteT1 Akiko Yamaoka
My answer to #2...
ReplyDeleteYes, I am sometimes wrong in my judgement of people.
Here is one example.
My friend from high school looks older than her actual age (in a good way), and when I first met her, I thought she was such a mature girl that I thought I might not be able to make a good friend with her because I was very childish.
However,as we got to know each other, I found that she was also childish. It surprised me a lot but it was nice to find that I had something in common with a person whom I thought I could not make a good friend with. I learned that appearance does not always tell what kind of person he/she is.
Yuri N. T1
My answer is for Q1. When I see someone for the first time, I notice whether that person is smiling or not. If I can find even a little smile on his/her face, I feel like I can be a good friend with that person.
ReplyDeleteRina T1
To Q1
ReplyDeleteI've heard that women judge in a few seconds wheather she would fall in love with a man in fromt of her when she meets him for the very first time. I was surprized to hear that, but I can trust the theory because it's a matter of biological thing.... So, maybe I make the same judgement when I meet boys.
Minami T1
My answer to question #1:
ReplyDeleteI usually try to see if the person is willing to make eye contact with me. If not, I judge that the person may not be interested in becoming friends, or wants to be left alone.
Asako T1
I choose Q3. It's hard to answer but I'll try.
ReplyDeleteI think that most people are scared of unknown things.I don't know why but we feel nervous when we see something or someone strange or unfamiliar with/to. That's why we quickly judge people and put them in some categories (unconsciously!), by which we see it as it is and get relieved.
As for the second question, I'm not sure. Is it like,sometimes it may lead to prejudice or stereotype, which is bad I think. And the good thing is that it helps our mutual understanding or like that? Sorry I'm so confused...
Tomomi(s)T1
Q3:
ReplyDeleteI think we are so quick judging people because we are all more or less nervous when we meet someone for the first time. Then we try to protect ourselves by secretly analysing and judging the person, making sure that s/he is not a threat. The good side of it is that we can avoid wasting our time by avoiding a person we know we don’t get on with. The downside is that we never know if we are correct in our judgement unless we become frieds with the person.
T1 Manabu
Q2:
ReplyDeleteYes, there was once that I was wrong in judging. Few years ago, I met a girl and I thought she is such a nice person as she seemed to be very friendly and started to talk to me and asked me a lot of things. Later on, I found out that she is just a gossipy person.
T1 Ayumi
I would like to answer the question 1.
ReplyDeleteWhat I notice when I first meet or see somebody is the way they talk. Actually, I feel comfortable to have a talk with a person of cheerful disposition, who is humorous, funny and knows how to communicate with his/her partners. It is very difficult for me to keep talking for long with someone that his/her characteristics does not impress me for anything. It does not mean that I can not communicate with those who I do not have special impression but I just want to stop the talk soon to do something more interesting. I recognize that judging other people by such this way is not very good, and sometimes it makes me troubled. I tried to change not to judge people for the first sight,first talk so quickly and especially through the way they talk, but it seems that there is something like stereotype forming in my mind and it is probably impossible to change.
VAN- T1
When I meet/see somebody for the first time, I notice whether she or he makes eye contact with me. If they do that, it makes me comfortable and it easier to talk with them because I judge that they are friendly and want to talk with me.
ReplyDeleteSo, eye contacts help me judge their willingness for communication.
T1 Satomi Yoneyama
Q.2:
ReplyDeleteWhen I first meat someone, I notice whether he/she is willing to talk with me. I can tell that by their mood, or atmosphere. If I feel they want to talk with me (not meaning that they're talkative), it takes little time to become friend with them. If not, it does not mean I cannot get friend with them, but I need a little more time to.
Ayano T1
I'll answer #2.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a high school student, I met a boy in the same age. He seldom talked to me and looked even irritated to me. I thought he dislike me, and felt that he was hard to deal with. However, after a while, he asked me to go out with him. He's actually very kind and funny guy. He's now my boyfriend.
Satomi.K. T1
My answer to question #1:
ReplyDeleteWhen I first meet someone, I check (rather than notice) if he/she hesitates to make eye contact or not. If so, I feel that he/she might be a shy person. I feel happy when the person makes eye contact frequently after we become friendlier.
Natsuki T1
To Question #2:
ReplyDeleteActually I have to admit that I often judge people with their first impressions and appearances, which happen to be turned over in a good way too.
When I was attending high school entrance ceremony, there was a Japanese guy sitting next to me whose hair was dyed gold, skin tanned a bit, and wearing a denim overall. I was almost shocked with his appearance and immediately judged that he'd be a kind of gangster. But as he made a short speech in front of classmates, he did it in a very sincere and moving way. I felt embarrassed having judged him only from how he looked, not looking inside of him.
I guess I have a lot more examples of this kind, and probably many people would too.
Kaori T1
Hi! I'd answer question 3.
ReplyDeleteI think we judge people quickly without reason.
I heard that when we see something new to us(not only people), we immediately try to find something similar to it in our storage of memory. And this unconscous reacthion helps us to reduce our stress which is caused by unfamiliar thing.
Good point of judging people is, I think, we can reduce danger of hurting others. By guessing what type of person he or she is, we can avoid to do something unpleasant for that person. But at the same time, people are not alwaiys as they look like.
Nodoka T1
I would like to answer Q2.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was at another university, I got acquainted with a boy who was younger than me. His first impression was the worst to me, because he looked like a sassy kid.
After a while, however, I found that actually he had good manners.
Now, he is one of the most precious junior friends, and he holds a drinking party for me twice a year!
Yusuke T1
#2
ReplyDeleteI have ever been wrong in my judgement of people. I met this woman at the university in the U.S. She was very calm and looked cold. At first it seemed that she was keeping distance from other people, which gave me an impression that she was a snob. Like other people in the class I did not have many chances to talk to her in private. One day I met her outside of the class. As soon as she saw me she said hi and started talking to me very friendly. After the nice conversation with her I realized she was very nice but shy. This experience made me think I should have talked to her first and got to know her without any judgement.
T1 Megumi
My answer to Q3;
ReplyDeleteWe judge people so quickly because we want to have a clue about a sense of distance. When we meet someone at the first time, we do not know how to communucate with them. We should know Whether we talk casually or politely, whether they like jokes or not and so on, before we start to talk.
This judging makes for smoother communication, but, at the same time, it sometimes makes unnecessary "wall" between us which interferes with a new relationship.
Ayako T1
MY answer to Q2.
ReplyDeleteI work part-time at a fast-food restaurant for years. Once a woman came to our restaurant as a new member.
She was a house-wife and around 30 years old. She was wearing glasses and looked serious and quiet.I thought it took some times for her to get along with other members.
But once we talk together, she appeared to be an energetic and talkative woman who had a great sense of humor. And we made friends soon.
Now she is a very popular person among us. I think she has been a little nervous when she has come to our restaurant for the first time.
Mana T1
My answer to Q1: When I see someone new to me, I usually notice his or her clothes and accessories.
ReplyDeleteFor example, If I meet a man in black clothes, I tend to judge that he must be a conservative person.
Like this, I think I judge pepole intuitively based on what they wear.
Takashi Ueno T1
Q1
ReplyDeleteI check eyes.
Because eyes are honest in what he/she is actually thinking.
Countenance, on the other hand, is where people usually care and manage to make, I think.
Hiroshi T1
I will answer #3. People basically feel scared about what they don't know and want to protect from danger. So that's why people judge others and categorize others. Good point is that they can feel at ease and deside whether they approach or keep distance. Bad point is that people's personality is usually too complicated to judge by first impression.
ReplyDeleteSatomi YOSHI T1
I'd like to answer Q1.
ReplyDeleteI usually look at his/her expressions and their eyes. I think I can judge what kind of person, or how they feel at that time from these two points. For example, If they smile and make eye contact with me, they are very social. If they smile but don't make eye contact, they may in some degree feel uncomfortable. It helps me to notice how I communicate with people and try to make more comfortable relationship.
Yumi T1
Qustion 1
ReplyDeleteWhen I first meet someone, I see their appearance, such as clothes, makeup, etc. I think how they dress refrect their personality.
I also see whether they smile or not. If they smile often, I judge them friendly and want to talk to other people.
Tomomi.A T1
Q1
ReplyDeleteHow they are dressed and what air they have.
These things tell me how they are raised and what values they have, as well as their personalities.
Plus, I have a tendency to check their shoes. No matter how elegantly they are dressed, rundown dirty shoes ruin everything!
Kento T1
My answer for question#1: I always see their facial expression, especially their eyes when I meet someone for the first time. If their face are set and hard, or they slightly look away, I judge them as serious and shy people. I regard someone as kind people when they look at me with warm eyes.
ReplyDeleteRie Ti
Good evening, Matt.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to answer the question #3.
Firstly, I think the reason why we judge people quickly is that we usually decide his/her personality unconsciously by the appearance. When you meet someone, usually you have no "tools" to guess what he/she likes or doesn't other than it.
Secondly, the best thing about judging people is that we can change the way to treat people around us depending on the impression we get from them so we avoid gratuitous conflicts. And one of the bad things is, I think, we might not be able to be objective because of the judge. We often make a mistake when judging people. The person you think you don't like or you can't get along with might have a different personality, and unfortunately you might not notice the fact clinging to what he/she is like you think.
Miki T1
I would like to answer Q1.
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, clothes or expression is one of the factors to judge people, I think the tone of voice is important. If he or she speaks melancholily, I may feel that he is shy or hard to please.
T1 Hideto
My answer to Q2
ReplyDeleteOne of my classmates of English major had his hair dyed yellow in freshman year, so i thought he's not a serious person.
Now I know that he reads a lot and gains knowledge about the subject he's interested in, and that he's a good guy who is easy to talk to.
T1 Haruka
Question 3
ReplyDeleteWe are quickly judging people because we need to decide how to get well with others when we meet new people. The good thing about judging people is that it may provide us with some tips for making better relationships with others. However, we may often make wrong judgement as we tend to make a decision just by someone's looking, which is the bad aspect of judging people.
T1 Mika K
Here is my answer to Q2
ReplyDeleteHonestly speaking, yes, I have judged someone in a way that I now think was inappropriate, which could be even regarded as discriminative.
I used to go to school in the United States, where I helped teach the Japanese language to American students. From what I had previously seen or heard, I had the image of the Americans that, if they were ever interested in the Japanese culture, they would tend to be nerdy or geeky. But of course, after having conversations with the American students in the Japanese class I taught, I soon found out that I was wrong.(Well, still, I was partially correct, though.)
What I learned from this experience was that you never know what they REALLY are when you meet someone for the first time, and that you tend to judge others by what you have heard or seen without giving much thought to the credibility of such preoccupation (especially when it comes to international interactions). The point I am trying to make here is that the more culturally distant you are from the person, the more likely it is that you become biased.
Masaru T1
What things about people do you notice when you first meet/see them? How do these things help you judge them?
ReplyDeleteQ1:
Honestly, I suppose they are physical or visual matters. If someone looks good, dresses neatly and talks nicely, the first impression will be quite good.
whether it's good or bad,it helps us to decide, in what kind of way we would talk to that person.
Yurika T1
I'd like to choose Q3
ReplyDeletewhy we are so quick about judging people is because to talk with somebody you can never know is just scary. We human hate something makes us uneasy. Of course uneasiness causes thrill and some people love such condition but thrill is fun because you'll relieved afterward. If we feel uneasy from a beginning to an end at every conversations, it would be just tiring and horrifying. The most fearful fact would be that there are so many people one human meets in his/her life. To keep our mind in peace, we need to judge people immediately!
So good thing about it is to remove uneasiness from our mind and save our energy and time. Bad thing is that people's guesses are always inaccurate and often causes misunderstanding between people because this function is for one's own sake, not for someone else's.
Tatsuhiro T1