Spontaneous first impressions emerge from brief training.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Humans reliably infer character traits from facial appearance.
• The origins of these first impressions are debated between learning and nativist accounts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the origins of first impressions based on facial appearance.
• To test whether first impressions can be learned de novo.
• To examine if learned first impressions exhibit rapid availability.

Main Methods:

• Five pre-registered experiments using a novel paradigm with synthetic objects (Greebles).
• Participants underwent brief training to associate appearance cues with trustworthiness and competence.
• Exposure durations were manipulated, including very brief (100 ms) presentations.

Main Results:

• Participants quickly learned to associate Greeble appearance with trustworthiness.
• Learned associations generalized to a two-dimensional structure of trustworthiness and competence.
• Once learned, these first impressions were rapidly available, even after 100 ms exposure.

Conclusions:

• First impressions based on appearance can be rapidly learned.
• Learned first impressions exhibit characteristics previously attributed to innate responses.
• Results support the plausibility of learning accounts for the formation of first impressions.