Your Body Language and First Impressions

December 1st, 2010 by lewis

Harvard Magazine published an article on important first impressions and how your body language affects those first impressions.

A few key takeaways:
  • When meeting someone new, that person’s warmth and competence account for “80 percent of our overall evaluation.”
  • Body language can influence another’s evaluation of one’s warmth and competence.
  • Crossing arms and legs (see picture below) are considered low-power poses that imply one’s low warmth and competence.
  • The article goes on state a study of “185 venture-capital pitches and found that variables like calmness, passion, eye contact, and lack of awkwardness were strong predictors of success.
Keep this study in mind during your job interviews. Your body language can be just as important as your interview responses. For your reference, here’s an earlier blog post on interview body language tips.

Source: Harvard Magazine

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