Science & Technology, Canada (Commonwealth Union) – First impressions have generally been viewed as essential, not just for a date but even a job interview or an important meeting. When it’s the first time you’re meeting someone in a romantic context, and the impression you make can significantly impact the outcome of the date. A positive first impression can lead to a successful relationship, while a negative one can mean the end of any potential romance.
One of the key factors many take into account, when going on a date is to be presentable. While this doesn’t mean dressing like attending a wedding, but taking effort to look neat and the appearance, of being overdressed is often viewed by many as being out of touch.
Recent research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences looked into how 1st impressions forecast relational outcomes, that took into account, how the dating market concludes the desirability forms those initial opinions prior to couples having an opportunity to find out if they have any chemistry between them.
“We found that the factors that mattered the most in predicting romantic interest were the extent to which people agreed that certain partners had desirable traits,” explained Emily Impett, a professor of psychology from the University of Toronto (U of T), who was from the study team involved in research on the topic.
Researchers indicated that in other words, the possible mates already had to forward a good “resume” of features considered significant in society, these included physical attractiveness, which was just to have that 1st face-to-face meeting. Generally known as “partner effects” or “mate value.”
Impett and her study team took data from over 6,600 speed dates for the study.
Straight after the significance of the “partner effect” was the “relationship effect,” or “the extent to which individuals uniquely had attraction for each other according to Impett, who obtained her PhD at University of California, Los Angeles. It was indicated by researchers that this was known simply as compatibility, the relationship impact was the evasive quality where dates were formed into relationships.
“Compatibility has been very hard to predict before people first interact – despite the popularity of dating apps which would make us believe that it’s possible to predict compatibility before two people interact with each other,” said Impett, who is also the director of the U of T, Relationships and Well-Being Laboratory.
The 3rd factor, the researchers took into account was the “actor effect,” exploring if the grader tended towards an increased or lesser ratings overall.
The researchers conducted 3 speed dating events that coupled university students of various identities, where 2 sessions were conducted at Northwestern University in Illinois, and the 3rd was held at the Toronto 2015 Anime North comic book convention. Surveys were conducted straight after the speed dates, and then again after 24 hours, where participants were told to rate their 1st desire and interest in more interaction.
The researchers discovered that 1st impressions that were associated with partner effects and relationship effects were the most powerful forecasters of romantic outcomes. Impett indicated that the researchers felt that there is a very good reason for humans to make a lot of effort in 1st impressions, as it was positive for our evolution.
“The mating of humans evolved in the context of monogamous pair-bonded relationships,” said Impett. “When choosing a potential mate or partner, humans needed to consider not just whether a potential mate had attractive qualities – had good genes, was fertile – but also whether that person would make a suitable partner to raise offspring and that they could have a lasting relationship with that person in the long term.”
