Impression Formation By Soloman Asch

Wherever we go, we look around and often judge people by their personal traits, the way they talk, or maybe even how they dress. What this is called is impression formation. It is the process of how we gather information to have an overall impression of someone’s character. This is done by using their physical traits and the way they behave as our available information to make our judgement. In 1946, Soloman Asch published his own study of impression formation. He was mostly interested in how humans formed their impressions of other human beings. Throughout many of his experiments he demonstrated that when forming an impression it had four key elements. The elements were, organized process, relations of harmony and contradiction, central qualities are discovered, and that the characteristics are perceived differently. At least now we probably know why they say that first impressions matter! In my day to day life, I use impression formation by the way someone looks or their first conversation or interaction with me. With those two

This is called the Halo effect. It is when people with attractive traits or physical features are given the qualities of positive traits. There are so many perceptions of being attractive that has an effect on judgments made that are tied to their personality traits. The halo effect could also be used on branding. Many marketers take advantage of this method to sell their products and their services. An example of this being used is when Apple’s ipod became popular. When the ipod became popular it set an outburst on the rest of their products. Lastly, I use the halo effect frequently in my day to day life. Now that I have began college I am in classes with many unfamiliar faces all around me. I use the halo effect to determine who I think is approachable, smart, and who to