First Impressions

 Why do first impressions hold so much stock? This thought has been with me for quite some time now. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say everyone has had some of their first impressions turn out to be wrong or misjudged - be it with people, food, movies, music, etc. And yet despite these occurrences, we still make snap appraisals of things and in turn that creates our perception of it, even though we could be completely wrong. I know that when we experience something new our mind needs to create a "file" about it, so it's necessary to make note of the initial things we see/feel. I'm just curious as to why we sometimes feel complete with this very basic assessment.

Most recently I bought a CD ("Mylo Xyloto" by Coldplay), and during my first listen-through I wasn't very impressed with it; but after listening to it more and more I've come to really enjoy it. There are varied factors that come into play when discussing the influence of a first impression. Continuing with my CD example: I thoroughly love just about everything Coldplay has put out, including their unreleased B-sides, so I guess I already have the preconceived that I will like their new album (plus I had heard several of the songs from it prior to its release, and liked them).
However, my first impression was that the new CD was "good, but not as good as their other stuff", and that in itself was a disappointment. Did my high expectations clash with my actual reaction to the CD and therefore result in my initial dissatisfaction? Definitely. But then an interesting thing happened: I listened to it again, and found myself enjoying the songs more and more. I think that having more familiarity with each song, knowing what it's actually like (opposed to what I thought it would be like) removed my expectations from the mix and actually let me listen to the music as it truly existed.

There's an old saying: "Familiarity breeds contempt." I used to think it meant that a person begins to hate all the material things in their lives that remain the same, day after day, like their job, relationships, possessions. Writing this post out has made me think of that quote in a different light. This new Coldplay CD was more different than their other albums, and that may have had some influence on why I didn't like it as much initially; but after listening to it more, I've come to really enjoy their new style and direction (admittedly it's not a drastic change, so that's one knock on my case here. Still, it's pretty different from their older stuff). So if this new CD was more like their older material, I probably would have liked it more at the beginning, but as time goes on I may have become more bored with it, or I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as their newer style. I guess the point I'm making in connection with the quote is that while familiarity is "safer", it also doesn't offer you a chance to experience something new; and the whole point of human life is to experience new things. So I now think of "familiarity breeds contempt" as a more philosophical motivator, urging us to seek out new experiences.

This realization helped me understand that our first impressions are mainly based on a mixture of reactions, prior knowledge, and emotions. Not a hard concept to understand, given the fact that anytime you react to a new thing you can really only rely on those three aspects. The thing that bothers me is when these first impressions become our entire perception of something, or when they carry so much weight that it takes a lot to overcome the first judgment. I know that it's ridiculous to assume for people to simply stop making snap judgments; I just hope we can realize that we may be totally wrong, or we may change our mind later. Just keeping our minds and attitudes open can make a difference (and if we have that in the first place, perhaps our first impressions will be more accurate).

[Post composed listening to Coldplay's "Mylo Xyloto" album - go figure :) ]