Are first impressions a form of prejudice?
by 
Mrs.mezzo is a Wagnerian soprano
ANSWERS: 10
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Yes, and narrow-mindedness, and stupidity. (IMO, only.)
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First impressions can be coloured by prejudices- prejudices of former relationships with someone physically similar, or of a type of person you have been taught to be frightened of or to look down on...hopefully, though, as you get past the first impressions, opinions might change.
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I think so, and I never think it's too late to give another first impression.
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Only if you let that dictate your behavior towards them and you do not give them an opportunity to prove who they really are.
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I dont think a first impression is in any way showing prejudice unless the person observing is making a decision about the other person based solely on the color of their skin or some other aspect such as their religion etc. I hope that came across the way I intended for it to.
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hmmmm, If I meet someone for the first time and their angry, ignorant and unkind then I would'nt catergorize that as a prejudice. Their just a person I would'nt typically want to hang with. Then again, maybe their having a bad day. Maybe they just found their gold fish belly up or did'nt save that 2.99 at Walmart an hour ago.
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Depends on what the first impression is. If I meet you and think you're a wonderful, fun-loving person, I wouldn't consider that prejudice. If I meet you and make false assumptions about you based on race, religion, sex, ethnicity, etc., then you'd have prejudice.
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Yes in the sense that first impressions form a memory, and that memory then participates in distorting perception of future experiences. This is the normal mode of operation for the mind -- we become conditioned by past experiences, and that conditioning is "active" in filtering future experiences. But I wouldn't consider this prejudice in the sense of being a category-wide form of discrimination, unless the individual takes that first impression and turns it into a generality that covers a whole group of people... for example, if I met my first Chinese man, he flipped me the bird, and I formed the belief "all Chinese are rude". If my first impression only affects that one individual, then it's just ordinary conditioning I suppose. However, both of these forms of conditioning should really be addressed the same way: maintaining awareness. To see that we have preconceptions about people, and to let go of them... that's the bread-and-butter of having an open mind.
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Perhaps a form of security rather than prejudice ...
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No..everyone makes a first impression. As long as the impression is based on how the person represents himself or herself it has nothing to do with prejudice. It becomes prejudice when color, financial status, gender, etc., enters into it.
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