Read the text. Choose true or false for each sentence.
1 When people meet for the first time, they make first impressions of one another in a few seconds. To do this, they notice clothes, body shape, the way a person talks, and expressions he or she makes. Research shows that first impressions are very important because they have a strong impact on forming relationships.
2 Studies show that the primacy effect is an important part of first impressions. The primacy effect is the idea that the first impression is very difficult to change. After the first meeting, two people may interact again and learn more about each other, but the early impressions they formed will influence their feelings about each other in the future. For example, if a person has a good first impression of someone, he or she probably will not notice bad things about the person later. However, if that person has a bad first impression, he or she will probably notice mostly bad things in the future.
3 Another interesting part of first impressions is that people act how others expect them to act. This is called a self-fulfilling prophecy. Research by Snyder and Swann supports this idea (1978). In that study, partners played a game together. The partners did not know one another, so the researchers told each player about his partner. Sometimes they said positive, or good, things about a partner. Sometimes they said negative, or bad, things. The result of the study showed that players acted friendly when they expected their partners to be friendly, but they acted unfriendly when they expected their partners to be unfriendly. The players’ expectations influenced how they acted toward one another.
2)
The primacy effect is the idea that people act how others expect them to act.
true
false