Key Features of Personality Assessment in Communication
The process of assessing a person begins with the first impression, which is essentially a general perception of the person of interest. The subsequent perception process becomes more specific, focusing on the details of the individual. Typically, the first impression is not verbalized and occurs on a sensory level. Naturally, this first impression carries the risk of error, which is influenced by several factors.
The main sources of such errors include stereotypes, the opinions of others, the halo effect, the leniency effect, the observer’s mental state, dominant needs, defense mechanisms like projection, and simplification. Let’s briefly review these errors:
1. Stereotypes
If the person being observed differs from the observer in some noticeable way, this difference often triggers certain standard images or stereotypes. These can be group or ethnic stereotypes, stereotypes related to appearance, or those concerning physical disabilities, expressive movements, voice, and speech. Such stereotypes, which hinder accurate perception, exist in all cultures. Understanding these stereotypes, especially in the context of different nationalities, can significantly help reduce errors in interpreting behavior.
2. Opinions of Others
Often, even a general or fragmentary opinion about a person is enough to influence our assessment. If someone gives us a description or even a superficial judgment about a person, we tend to fit that person’s behavior into a certain template shaped by someone else’s, possibly biased or even false, opinion.
3. The Halo Effect
If you like the person you’re observing, you tend to evaluate them in positive terms; if you don’t, you see them negatively. This overall impression tends to extend to almost every trait of the person. The halo effect blurs the details and leads to a generalized assessment, often causing the observer to form a fixed image of the person.
4. The Leniency Effect
Most people tend to be kind when evaluating a stranger, often overlooking obvious flaws. However, some people are inclined to doubt the positive qualities of others, sometimes even adopting a strategy of mistrust until the person proves themselves. Excessive leniency may indicate psychological issues in the observer.
5. Mental State
It’s well known that a person in a good mood tends to see others in a positive light and elicits positive feelings in return. Conversely, someone who is depressed not only sees everything negatively but also provokes negative reactions from others. Thus, the observer’s mental state can be a source of error in personality assessment.
6. Dominant Needs
Dominant needs make a person especially sensitive to the object of their need. For example, a hunter spots animals more easily, and a berry picker notices berries. However, the stronger the need, the more likely it is to cause misperceptions—such as mistaking an object for an animal or picking an inedible berry. Therefore, the observer’s current needs can lead to errors.
7. Projection as a Defense Mechanism
Projection distorts reality by causing a person to attribute their own feelings to others. While everyone projects to some extent, it is most pronounced in people with unstable nerves. Projection leads a person to perceive their own feelings as if they were caused by someone else. More complex forms include feeling suspected or accused of intentions that conflict with one’s self-concept. Essentially, projection is the opposite of empathy. While empathy allows a person to feel another’s mood as their own, projection causes one to attribute their own feelings to others. Projection distorts and weakens the perception process, while empathy organizes and strengthens it.
Perception is subjective: we tend to assess others by comparing them to our own self-concept. The observer always compares the observed to themselves, believing they know themselves well and thus can better understand others. However, due to the distortions caused by defense mechanisms, this does not guarantee objectivity.
8. Simplification
The first impression is almost always incomplete because people are complex. As a result, we tend to simplify our perception of others. Since most people have this tendency, many are practically unable to perceive another person fully. They often draw conclusions based on a single fact, fix these conclusions in their minds, and are slow to change them. This trait depends on individual characteristics.
Causes of Perception Errors
The causes of perception errors are linked to the characteristics of the person being observed, the intentional or unintentional influence of the observed on the observer, and the observer’s own personality traits. This includes both the psychological characteristics of those we observe and their actions aimed at anticipating or manipulating our assessment.
People are perceived differently. Some are open and easy to form a first impression of, while others are closed off, making it hard to say anything definite about them. Some hide their inner experiences so well that it’s difficult to guess what they’re feeling, regardless of whether they are intellectual, shy, or otherwise. Others are always suspicious or anxious, expecting trouble and thus remaining tense and hostile. Some are constantly active, hiding their inner world behind their actions and feeling superior to others. There are also people who adapt well to circumstances, changing their mood as needed, and those who blend into the crowd, leaving no lasting impression.
All of this affects first impressions. Sometimes, the first impression is distorted because the observed person is noticeably different from the observer. For example, when meeting a foreigner, we often see them as a representative of their entire nation, overlooking individual traits. We are struck by features that are less pronounced in ourselves. When first encountering a group of foreigners, such as Vietnamese people, we may feel disoriented, thinking they all look alike. However, understanding that this is a normal aspect of social perception helps us adjust quickly.
We should also remember the anticipation of evaluation by the observer. Some people intuitively try to make a good impression by smiling or showing attention, which can lead to misperception. This error increases if the situation or the observer makes the observed person feel suspicious or anxious, causing them to try even harder to please or anticipate the observer’s desires.
Sometimes, the observed person deliberately tries to deceive the observer, using various tricks to appear as they wish to be seen. This can involve exaggerating or downplaying expressive movements, or even hiding behind a mask. Deception can be intentional or unintentional.
In practice, assessing a person during communication is challenging because it occurs both consciously and subconsciously, often beyond our control. To bring this process under conscious control, it’s important to understand the general scheme of perceiving a person by their external signs and to analyze its details. As the great Russian physiologist I.M. Sechenov once said, “A person’s psychological activity is expressed through external signs, and usually everyone—ordinary people, scientists, naturalists, and those engaged in spiritual work—judge the former by the latter, that is, by external signs.”
Author: Yu.V. Chufarovsky