Appearance versus Reality

Appearances play a large role in our perception of the world around us; they help us determine how to react at first impressions. As the six aspects of social psychology state, there are multiple components to making such conclusions about our surroundings. As I have been going about my daily life, I have realized how often these components come up. For example, I decided to learn a bit of sign language (you never know, it might be helpful) and I learned that the most important things are letters and facial expressions. Facial expressions can completely alter the message you are trying to convey, it can be the difference between a question and a statement. We rely on the appearances of others to understand, rather than just relying on what they are saying. These interpretations can help us avoid unpleasant situations and can also cause them if we misjudge a person/place. The first stage in the aspects of social psychology is ‘person perception’, which can also be applied to places. Our expectations of places/people can change our impressions for better or for worse. I have noticed this aspect is seen quite often in buying a house. Since my dad has begun house shopping, it has come down to the old phrase ‘location, location, location’. A house may seem nice on the inside, but a shady location is a huge turnoff, as are shady neighbors. Even if it’s one of those times when you shouldn’t judge too quickly, it’s better to be safe than sorry, especially when picking a location to live for several years (or more). However, there are many instances when first impressions can be false impressions – when appearances are deceiving. Appearances often mean more than they should in the school environment. Our school is okay when it comes down to judging on appearance, but this is merely due to the fact that most of us have grown up together since elementary. Despite this fact, styles still play a large role in the school ‘clicks’, although as I said previously, our school isn’t too bad.

I believe the old saying “you can’t judge a book by its cover” has a lot of merit and can be true in most cases. A book may look old, gross and moldy, but it might be a really good story, or it could be a new book that wasn’t taken care of. However, the opposite is also true. A book might look really good with a cool cover and an awesome synopsis, but it could be the worst book ever (this usually happens with movies). The same is true for people and places. An odd looking person or a dingy place could end up being great, as well, a great looking person/place can be deceiving.