Sept. 10, 2004 -- You just met someone for the first time. How fast can you
Sept. 10, 2004 -- You just met someone for the first time. How fast can you decide what role he or she plays in your future? For most people, all it takes is 10 minutes, according to a new study.
Michael Sunnafrank of the University of Minnesota and Artemio Ramirez Jr. of Ohio State University surveyed 164 college freshmen and found that first impressions, even snap judgments, had a profound influence on the development of future relationships.
Sunnafrank and Ramirez's findings are in stark contrast to previous research that demonstrated that it takes days, even weeks, to determine how a relationship will develop.
"We're finding that it all happens much sooner than that -- it's literally within just minutes," Ramirez says in a news release.
The findings are published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.
For the study, each college freshman was paired up with another same-sex student whom they had never met. They pairs introduced themselves and talked for three, six, or 10 minutes. Afterward, the study participants were asked to predict whether or not they would have a positive future relationship with the person they just met and to classify them in one of the following categories: nodding acquaintance, casual acquaintance, acquaintance, close acquaintance, friend, and close friend.
Nine weeks later, the students were again surveyed to determine what type of relationship had occurred. Those who initially gave their partner a high positive rating tended to sit closer in class and talk to them more. After follow-up, a closer friendship had developed.
The amount of time students spent talking to each other initially had no effect on the outcome.
Ramirez says how relationships are forged is almost a "self-fulfilling prophecy." If you predict a positive relationship, chances are you'll work harder to make it happen. If you foresee a negative interaction, it's likely you will restrict communication.
