Your brain is wired up to automatically make decisions that are important to you, and it does so pretty well and fast.
Initially we only notice someone’s more obvious traits, such as being outgoing, and miss their more private feelings, like a tendency to be suspicious.
Meeting a stranger can change your life. So you need to be able to make quick and reliable judgements about someone new. Who to be friends with, who to date, who to avoid … Decisions like that are so important that your brain’s wired up to make them automatically.
And it does pretty well. Sizing up strangers within seconds. That’s not bad when you think about everything that has to be taken into account. But the process is far from perfect. So you need to be careful about first impressions!
