10 Mar 2010
Cognitive Dissonance
If you’ve ever thought about why first impressions matter so much, it’s probably because of cognitive dissonance, something that Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, writes about quite a bit (you might have surmised that he’s one of my favorite writers from the fact that this is the 3rd or 4th mention of him on my blog :-)).
Unless someone takes the time to limit the impressions they form during a first meeting (and assuming there are future meetings), cognitive dissonance indicates that it’s very hard to undo or change those initial impressions.
Another example at the other end of the spectrum is how malleable someone’s opinion of what’s important can change over time. I grew up in a household emphasizing balance but I will still pretty obsessed with making a lot of money and having prestige when I was in high school & college. It took more than a few promotions & instances of meeting job-related goals to discover that ascending along this path wasn’t everything I’d thought when I was growing up, and that it wouldn’t be the right thing for me for the future. The fact that it took a few years is probably because of my own cognitive dissonance!
