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Are First Impressions Important in Job Interviews and How Quickly are They Formed? By Author and Body Language Expert Patti Wood, Job Interview Body Language


In a study conducted by Prof Tricia Prickett and colleagues at the University of Toledo, Ohio, the decision that trained interviewers made in a 20-minute interview looking at job experience and skills was predicted by random observers looking only at the first 20 seconds of the interview.

A study on first impressions in interviews by Bryan Swider and colleagues at Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, found that interviewees who made a good initial impression on the interviewer(s) received better scores for the questions they answered in the interview than those who made a poor first impression. Research indicates that the first 20 seconds – the initial greeting when you enter the room and walk across to your chair – in an interview could be key in determining the outcome of the entire interview.

Qualifications for the job, how you answer questions etc. are assessed after the first impression in a live interview. The most qualified candidate who makes the right first impression gets the offer. 



Patti Wood, MA - Author and The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.
     

What's The Difference Between A First Impression and a Stereotype? By Body Language Expert Patti Wood


First let’s define the difference between a first impression, which is based on potentially up to 10,000 cues in less than a minute of interaction with another person, and formed in the limbic system and therefore has a high degree of accuracy, ( 70 percent or higher ) and a stereotype which is based on past experiences, radical, ethnic, socioeconomic and other learned prejudicial information and formed in the neocortex and has a low degree of accuracy less than 30 percent.

 A first impression is typically accessing credibility, likeability, attractiveness, and power. First impressions help us asses if someone is safe to approach. So, for example, Attractiveness may seem a stereotypical assessment, however facial and body symmetry and other cues such as shiny hair and clear skin can also indicate overall health so someone is safer to approach and genetically healthy, (approach because they would make healthy babies.)

 First impressions happen very quickly. Harvard teaching fellows were videotaped and a 10-second silent piece of that video was shown to outside observers, who were asked to rate the teachers on a 15-item checklist of personality traits. Even when Ambady cut the video back to 5 seconds--even to 2 seconds--the ratings remained the same. All the important stuff happened, apparently, in the first 2 seconds. 

Here's the scariest part: Ambady and Rosenthal discovered that a person's conclusions after watching that 2-second video clip of a teacher he has never met are very similar to the conclusions reached by classroom participants after an entire semester's exposure. 





Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.
     

Trump's Body Language Going to His Indictment Hearing by Body Language Expert Patti Wood. Trump's Perp Walk Body Language



Here is the full article with my analysis of Trump's body language for The  Sun followed by a few highlights https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/21932203/donald-trump-body-language-nyc-indictment-arrest/

FORMER President Donald Trump looked like "a scared child reaching for help" ahead of an arraignment on Tuesday following his historic indictment, a body language expert has said. 

The ex-president, 76, was seen boarding his jet to New York City this afternoon after he was indicted over an alleged hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, 44, last week.

In one photo where Trump appears to be waving from his car, Wood noticed that he was hunched over.

“That is a protective stance," she said.

"You hunch over to protect yourself from a hit.”

Wood referenced the fight or flight response, which can sometimes entail making yourself smaller or tightened as Trump appears to have done, according to Wood. 

“The expression on his face … there’s not a smile. There’s not a playfulness," the body language pro said.

"The musculature is downward … around his eyes, it’s a mixture … it’s both fear and a little bit of anger. They’re combined together.

"Then, the hand is not his typical wave, not his typical thumbs up. It looks more like a child … to me that hand is reaching [for] help.”



Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.
     
This couple at the Country Music Awards. 



https://www.tiktok.com/@mtv/video/7217588777227963694?_r=1&_t=8bBdYiQug4k
 


Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.
     

Kissing Rituals in Different Countries

While handshakes, hugs, bows, and nods, are all acceptable greetings, the most common greeting is a kiss, or kisses, on the cheek. Cheek is most common in Europe and Latin America and has become a standard greeting in Southern Europe.[2]

While cheek kissing is a common greeting in many cultures, each country has a unique way of kissing. In Russia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, the Netherlands, and Egypt it is customary to “kiss three times, on alternate cheeks.” Italians, Hungarians, and Romanians usually kiss twice in a greeting and in Mexico and Belgium only one kiss is necessary. French culture accepts several ways to greet depending on the region. Two kisses are most common throughout all of France, but in Paris and Provence, you kiss the left cheek, right cheek, and back for one more kiss on the left for friends and family.  


Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.