ABSTRACT
All relationships begin with two people who are strangers to each other. Even the relationship between a mother and her infant begins with two strangers. The process by which people form impressions of strangers thus is of great consequence for understanding relationships. Fortunately, impression formation is one of the most studied and understood topics in social psychology. Researchers have learned that the instant a stranger has captured our attention, we begin to form an impression of that person. With extraordinary speed and efficiency, our mind begins processing clues to the stranger’s nature, particularly his or her likely behavior in interaction with us and the implications of that behavior for our personal welfare. Many of these clues are immediately provided by the person’s appearance, which usually contains information about his or her sex, age, race, physical attractiveness, and a wealth of other characteristics. The situation in which we encounter the stranger often provides more clues—about the person’s occupation and interests, for example. As a result of our mind’s activity, we often feel we know a great deal about the stranger, or at least enough to guide our behavior in our initial interactions. Over time and many interactions, we may come to know the person well—sometimes better than we know ourselves. In this chapter, we discuss how the human mind processes information about the strangers we encounter and about the people who over time have become our closest relationship partners.
