We judge people all the time. Research shows that when we first meet someone, we instantly use features such as their attractiveness and facial expressions to form an opinion about how approachable and trustworthy they are.
But what about when our first impression of someone is formed online, for example by looking at a Facebook page or an online dating profile? In these instances, we’re looking at a specially curated set of information about a person that only shows us what they want us to see. And yet a number of studies suggest that these profiles can often give away even more about someone’s personality than actually meeting them. [...]
What’s interesting is that we’re not so good at accurately judging some of these personality traits in face-to-face meetings. We rarely judge someone to be open to experience from our first impression of them because it is hard to work out how creative and open-minded they are. But extroversion is more easily detected in face to face contact because we tend to be pretty good at detecting whether people are chatty and sociable or not. [...]
The ability to more accurately judge some personality traits through online profiles suggests online dating can be a good way to seek out potential partners. Contrary to what you might expect, research has found that online daters tend to be more attracted to people who have dissimilar levels of openness and conscientiousness.
No comments:
Post a Comment