Academic

Sarkissian on Civility, Judging Others, Confirmation Bias, and Self-fulfiling Prophecies

By Lawrence Solum

Check out this really interesting post by Hagop Sarkissian on The Splintered Mind.  Here is a taste:

When we meet others we form impressions of them, and they tend to stick. This automatic tendency motivates numerous social practices, such as grooming before a date or rehearsing before a presentation. It can be unfair, of course, to evaluate persons based on their behavior on any one particular occasion, as the behavior may not be representative. Nonetheless, first impressions are easy to form and difficult to overcome.

What's more, there is a well documented asymmetry between the impact of bad first impressions versus good ones. Consider the following: We are quicker to both form and recall bad impressions, and are also more likely to do so. We also tend to be more confident about bad impressions, take less time to arrive at them, and require less information to be convinced of them -- that is, relative to good impressions. Finally, once a bad impression is formed, we seal it away from revision or interference.

There's more & Sarkissian connects this up with the virtue of civility.  Surf on over to The Splintered Mind!

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on March 06, 2008 (boomark / email).