Axis of Influence » Trust

First Impressions

admin — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:08:33 +0000

We (co-author Michael Lovas and I) have written quite a lot about first impressions. In particular the series of subconscious assessments that go on when we first meet someone. We know that the first thing that goes on is the “am I in danger?” assessment.

Every time a stranger looks at you, he or she makes a split-second determination as to whether you are friend or foe. Also among those split second assessments is an analysis of your attractiveness, likeability and credibility.

According to Princeton researcher and professor Alex Todorov, we are “hard wired” to quickly draw these inferences.

“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.”

For more on first impressions, and in particular what people are “reading” to make these assessments, check out our book Axis of Influence – How Credibility and Likeability Intersect to Drive Success.

For more on Alex Todorov, check out All Things Considered, June 9, 2005 – Scientists Search for Winning Look. Forget political polls. Scientists usually can tell whether political candidates will win or lose by testing voters’ reactions to the contestants’ faces. A study in the journal Science shows that voters chose the face that looks more “competent.”

Professor Todorov’s Princeton Website

First trust, then likeability, then credibility

pamholloway — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:46:37 +0000

Both Likeability and Credibility begin with the other person’s first impression of you. The first impression is a mental activity that goes on behind the scenes in your old brain. This mental activity takes place in a split second and because the old brain doesn’t have a lot to go on, it uses your face, your demeanor, your clothes and other immediate impressions to decide whether or not you can be trusted.

We know from the research that trustworthiness is the first decision the old brain seeks out and that makes sense because remember the old brain is, well…. old. It’s still operating in a world where giant predators with enormous appetites were looking to snack on your body parts. Survival meant quickly being able to size up a situation and choose the appropriate response. Even though you’re not really operating in that world anymore, your old brain still thinks it is.

So in order to increase your credibility and likeability, you have to pay attention to the old brain and get through the trust gate. It’s a process – First I decide if I trust you, then I decide if I like you. If I like you, I’ll pay attention long enough to see if I find you credible. The more you can do in those first few seconds to enable the other person to trust you, the better the odds you’ll make it through the likeability and credibility gates.

The Sound of Credibility

pamholloway — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:07:48 +0000

We know from the research that the way we talk (speed, pauses, pronunciation, volume, etc.) triggers certain judgements about our Credibility. It seems that we humans have an innate competence detector. Research by Brandeis University Professor Leslie Zebrowitz suggests that “strangers can judge intelligence at levels significantly better than chance from bried exposures to a target’s face, voice and other non-verbal cues.”

Work by University of Victoria researchers Reynolds and Gifford suggests that auditory cues are more strongly related to intelligence than visual ones. Reynolds and Gifford found that the following speaking styles are interpreted as higher intelligence:

Less halting speech
More standard use of language
Speaking more words
Speaking each word clearly
Speaking faster

What does this mean? If you are excellent at thinking on your feet, then you are likely not much affected by it. However, if you’re like most of us, when you have to think on your feet your mouth has to wait for your brain to catch up and give direction. Thus, your delivery is peppered with halting stutters and stammers. Listeners perceive such a delivery as evidence that you lack a certain amount of mental snap.

How can you use it? Prepare. When you are prepared you can improvise more easily and deliver powerful answers in a convincing style. Practice. The more you practice delivering, the more natural and fluid your delivery will become.