First Impressions
Throughout Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet, the main protagonist, has a negative view of Mr. Darcy because of her first impression of him. This prejudice made Elizabeth more susceptible to the fake rumors surrounding Mr. Darcy. These events made her more hostile to him.
Even though we are not in 19th century Europe, first impressions still have a great impact on the view of a person. Within the first few seconds or minutes of meaning a stranger, an impression is made.
Even something as simple as a handshake can help identify the personality of the individual. The University of Alabama had a study of the correlation between the strength of a handshake to the personality of an individual. The researchers noticed that an individual’s handshake does give indications of what the individual is like. People with weaker, limp handshakes were more introverted while those with stronger handshakes were more open and extroverted.
Dave Kenny, a psychologist as University of Connecticut, had conducted tests to see how accurate these first impressions are. He concluded that people are accurate in judging the social level of an individual. Other psychologists have been conducting similar research and have repeatedly come with the same results.
By Elena Oh