First Impressions / Appearance-Based Profiling

Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
is a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
When I see someone irl I often make assumptions about their personality based on things like appearance, and earlier today it just kinda clicked in my head that a lot of people with similar personalities (i.e. before the consideration of interests etc.) tend to be very similar with regards to a lot of choices about clothing and hairstyles and other similar stuff. While there are exceptions to this rule, I can generally group the people I know into "core personality groups" so to speak and there are obvious overlaps within them in these types of areas. Do other people notice this or is it just me being weird?

Does this deserve a thread? IDK. But it could maybe be interesting to read?
 

Hulavuta

keeps the varmints on the run
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
I think it's weird that you think it's weird. Most times people consciously make choices of their appearance to express something. Sometimes there are unconscious choices too, like a lazy person might have a messy look. It's not that weird though, especially when you take marketing and culture into account.
 
Once I was having a drink with a friend of mine at the pub in between lectures. We had an hour's break, perfect for a wee dram of whiskey. Being first year students, we were pretty intellectually snobby, and were spending our break as all the cool kids do: talking about philosophy.

A postman came into the pub, obviously on his lunch break. He was middle-aged, pretty scruffy and unkempt and, well, a postman. He had a pint in one hand and a hoagie in the other. Due to the general busyness of the place, he asked to sit down with us at our table (nothing, I'm sure, to do with the fact that we were 18 year-old women).

We got back to talking about whatever it was we had been discussing, only to find that our postman friend was an avid reader of philosophy, and could read Latin and Greek. To our surprise, we acquired a new conversation partner in the unlikeliest of all people: a stubbly, hoagie-eating postman.

Needless to say, my friend and I were surprised by this. It's not the kind of thing that happens every day. You wouldn't expect well-read people who read classical languages to end up as postmen. But we asked ourselves if we were wrong to make this assumption, and I'm still not sure. On reflection, we found the whole experience rather funny.
 

emma

is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Dedicated Tournament Host Alumnusis a Past SPL Championis a Past SCL Champion
DPL Champion
Everyone judges everyone and everything they see, it's just natural. Generally if I see a male who is tall and athletic I might think "Popular Kid" and if I see a fat kid with glasses I might think "Nerd I should stay away from". I think this is naturally unhealthy for humans to do since judging people on the outside isn't really fair since it is what is in the inside that actually matters. Same thing goes will judging people who are homosexual, there is literally nothing wrong with it but people still have a negative connotation with it.

Therefore I believe that being able to get past the first level of initial speculation about a someone is one of the most important skills you can obtain and I hope I can personally get better at this myself. :toast:
 
Once I was having a drink with a friend of mine at the pub in between lectures. We had an hour's break, perfect for a wee dram of whiskey. Being first year students, we were pretty intellectually snobby, and were spending our break as all the cool kids do: talking about philosophy.

A postman came into the pub, obviously on his lunch break. He was middle-aged, pretty scruffy and unkempt and, well, a postman. He had a pint in one hand and a hoagie in the other. Due to the general busyness of the place, he asked to sit down with us at our table (nothing, I'm sure, to do with the fact that we were 18 year-old women).

We got back to talking about whatever it was we had been discussing, only to find that our postman friend was an avid reader of philosophy, and could read Latin and Greek. To our surprise, we acquired a new conversation partner in the unlikeliest of all people: a stubbly, hoagie-eating postman.

Needless to say, my friend and I were surprised by this. It's not the kind of thing that happens every day. You wouldn't expect well-read people who read classical languages to end up as postmen. But we asked ourselves if we were wrong to make this assumption, and I'm still not sure. On reflection, we found the whole experience rather funny.
yeah, cool, I watched Good Will Hunting too
 

Soul Fly

IMMA TEACH YOU WHAT SPLASHIN' MEANS
is a Contributor Alumnus
Once I was having a drink with a friend of mine at the pub in between lectures. We had an hour's break, perfect for a wee dram of whiskey. Being first year students, we were pretty intellectually snobby, and were spending our break as all the cool kids do: talking about philosophy.

A postman came into the pub, obviously on his lunch break. He was middle-aged, pretty scruffy and unkempt and, well, a postman. He had a pint in one hand and a hoagie in the other. Due to the general busyness of the place, he asked to sit down with us at our table (nothing, I'm sure, to do with the fact that we were 18 year-old women).

We got back to talking about whatever it was we had been discussing, only to find that our postman friend was an avid reader of philosophy, and could read Latin and Greek. To our surprise, we acquired a new conversation partner in the unlikeliest of all people: a stubbly, hoagie-eating postman.

Needless to say, my friend and I were surprised by this. It's not the kind of thing that happens every day. You wouldn't expect well-read people who read classical languages to end up as postmen. But we asked ourselves if we were wrong to make this assumption, and I'm still not sure. On reflection, we found the whole experience rather funny.
Is this a sophisticated "lit/philo majors don't get employed" joke.
 

Soul Fly

IMMA TEACH YOU WHAT SPLASHIN' MEANS
is a Contributor Alumnus
I have never met anyone wearing short, or revealing clothes who wasn't an attention seeker or didn't have a big ego. Is there any other reason why you'd wear such attention-grabbing clothes?
 
I have never met anyone wearing short, or revealing clothes who wasn't an attention seeker or didn't have a big ego. Is there any other reason why you'd wear such attention-grabbing clothes?
Because shorts are comfy and easy to wear ?
It's true though, shorts are great during summer. It becomes attention seeker when you wear one during winter. Same for revealing clothes really.

To get back on the main topic, it's pretty normal to judge people by their appearance. Sure it's bad to judge people just by that, but it is instinctive to do so, or so I feel. Plus, appearance really tells something on the person's personality, I realized that when designing characters. Same for colors, they can tell a lot about someone.
 
I definitely think it's natural to assume things based on looks/outfit/etc. But keep in mind that not everyone is defined by their outfit.

I used to think in high school that Goth kids were just going through a phase or that they were trying to be "Edgy". While perhaps some of them were like that... sometimes people just want to dress how they want to dress.

Also, sometimes people dress for attention. Sometimes people dress up in just bottle caps for the environment. Although, I would prefer not to see old men wearing speedos on the beach. But alas, fashion/clothing is one of those things people can be ironically blind to.
 

BP

Beers and Steers
is a Contributor to Smogon
Good will hunting is my favorite movie of all time. Also I am going to say it is totally okay to make assumptions about people. You should not however act on those assumptions in a negative way
 
Last edited:
What's the problem with analyzing someone based on first glance? This is probably just one of the most ancient human instincts, to be able to judge what an unfamiliar human is about, and whether it is "safe" (as it was) to interact with the unfamiliar human. If you didn't have these instincts it would be a miracle your ancestors lived long enough to pass their genes down onto you, because they probably would've been murdered by people carrying around really big clubs that they thought would be willing to have a nice grunt by the fire.
 
What's the problem with analyzing someone based on first glance? This is probably just one of the most ancient human instincts, to be able to judge what an unfamiliar human is about, and whether it is "safe" (as it was) to interact with the unfamiliar human. If you didn't have these instincts it would be a miracle your ancestors lived long enough to pass their genes down onto you, because they probably would've been murdered by people carrying around really big clubs that they thought would be willing to have a nice grunt by the fire.
Well as long as we don't keep said analysis even in the face of evidence that said analysis is wrong. Also, keep in mind that if everyone went off of their first impressions, there'd likely be a lot more violence/prejudice in the world- It's my opinion that First Impressions can and should be important, but there's also a significant difference between humanity now and the way humanity was back when we were Cave dwellers. We have intelligence, and therefore should make our judgements based on that, not just off of what we see.
 
Well as long as we don't keep said analysis even in the face of evidence that said analysis is wrong. Also, keep in mind that if everyone went off of their first impressions, there'd likely be a lot more violence/prejudice in the world- It's my opinion that First Impressions can and should be important, but there's also a significant difference between humanity now and the way humanity was back when we were Cave dwellers. We have intelligence, and therefore should make our judgements based on that, not just off of what we see.
Of course. I'm not some sorta anarcho-primitivist lol. That was just my probable reasoning of why people have the tendency to weigh a person's character out by observations or an initial exchange. In the modern world there's no reason to think that even 10% of the people you meet might wanna bash your brains in.
 
Of course. I'm not some sorta anarcho-primitivist lol. That was just my probable reasoning of why people have the tendency to weigh a person's character out by observations or an initial exchange. In the modern world there's no reason to think that even 10% of the people you meet might wanna bash your brains in.
I agree. To believe that just because someone looks bad or whatever doesn't mean they are. It's my opinion that profiling is one of the worst sins one can commit. It's sadly far too prevalent.
 

Pyritie

TAMAGO
is an Artist
I agree. To believe that just because someone looks bad or whatever doesn't mean they are. It's my opinion that profiling is one of the worst sins one can commit. It's sadly far too prevalent.
To me, it depends on what exactly you're profiling. I don't think it's bad to make first impressions based on someone's characteristics of things they can actively change, like their hairstyle or how they dress or if they look and smell like they haven't showered in days, or how they move around or behave.
 
Last edited:
To me, it depends on what exactly you're profiling. I don't think it's bad to make first impressions based on someone's characteristics of things they can actively change, like their hairstyle or how they dress or if they look and smell like they haven't showered in days, or how they move around or behave.
I agree with that for the most part. I meant more like profiling based on the colour of one's skin, etc. Keep in mind though that some people have legitimate mental issues that may cause them to act weird in public.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top