Princeton researcher and Professor Alexander Todorov discovered that when we see a new face, our brains make split-second judgments on whether or not that person is trustworthy, attractive and competent.

Todorov says, “The link between facial features and character may be tenuous at best, but that doesn’t stop our minds from sizing other people up at a glance. We decide very quickly whether a person possesses many of the traits we feel are important, such as Likeability and competence, even though we have not exchanged a single word with them. It appears that we are hard-wired to draw these inferences in a fast, unreflective way.” 

Kevin Hogan, author of The Science of Influence, explains it this way:  “When you first meet someone, millions of neurons in the brain are activated.  The unconscious mind goes immediately to work, makes all kinds of judgments and evaluations, and essentially pegs the person a winner or loser in approximately four seconds.”

So knowing that people make these split-second decisions, what can you do to ensure thier first impressions of you are positive?

Let’s begin with Trust since this is the first thing the brain registers.  What can you do to help people trust you? 

First step, make yourself safe.  Ever see any of the Discovery Channel shows about animals fighting?  They puff up and try to look as large and intimidating as possible.  That’s what you’d do to if you were going to do battle.  Trust is the opposite of that, and it includes these elements: 

• Smile in your eyes
• Look – directly at the person, around the eyes but not into the eyes (no glaring)
• Open trusting posture – open palms
• Sideways tilt of your head
• Nod – encourage the conversation by saying, “Uh huh…OK…I see”

Why are those postures important?  For two reasons:  1) They are the main tools we use to communicate friendliness and trustworthiness and  2)  Nonverbal cues carry much more information than verbal ones.

This segment is drawn from our new book Axis of Influence – How Credibility and Likeability Intersect to Drive Success.  Stay tuned for more on Making a Favorable First Impression.