Guilty Of Making Snap-e Judgments?

Photo credit (above): Snape’s True Love | Flickr

I have been told that people, when they first meet you, size you up in the first few seconds of the encounter, long before the first word is uttered.

Humans judge within that timeframe and perhaps due to the fact that it is in the very few seconds that your perception of a person is formed, outward appearances do matter.

After that, once the relationship goes deeper, it’s harder to say what else will determine how one perceives another.

People evaluate others all the time and by different criteria. Thus, people can judge the same person based on a general set of information but if that general consensus is unanimous, the crowd is more likely to believe.

1. Power of perception

Perception is an extremely powerful force because as creatures of habit, humans perceive and judge everything around them to minute detail without being aware that they are doing so.

With social media, the reputation of a certain person can be painted through what they post online, therefore shaping people’s perceptions.

So be careful of what you post because it may change a person’s perception or worse, give them the wrong impression.

Your working persona should be something that is open so that people can get to know you more easily and perhaps change their perceptions and misconceptions about you.

Being open means you are transparent and people have less doubt about you because you have nothing to hide.

2. If you are on the other end

It is normal to judge in the spur of the moment of meeting a person; when you size someone up, but beyond that, you should observe as to how that person interacts with others and with you, how they work and personally, how they act as a person.

You should never judge people solely on what you hear from others. Instead, get to know people better and who knows, maybe all those things you heard are not true.

If you want to get to know someone better, this is the way to do it – learn more about them.

Invest some time to get to know this person; this can help you to change your understanding and perhaps open up your social circle a little bit more.

Final thoughts

Before you judge, always spend some time with people. Get to know them better beneath the skin that you paint on them.

You will be surprised by what you can discover in another person, as sometimes perception differs greatly from reality.

In line with our issue about Severus Snape, try not to make any Snap-e judgments, alright?

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