Inspired by Susan Boyle.
Do you judge people by their looks ? Is first impression the best impression ? Do you have any story to share , good or bad ?
As a teenager I sometimes judged people by their looks. But a maths professor in my first year engineering college changed that for me :).
I suppose it’s got a lot to do with what I’m judging them on. If I’m judging them as a potential sex partner, then yeah, I base a lot of it on looks.
But for most anything else… no, I honestly don’t think I do. I’ve had far too many learning experiences where people I’ve thought might not look the part have ended up outperforming. I’d say that as a teenager, it wasn’t uncommon to brew up snap judgements about people based solely on their looks, but that unfortunate habit faded over time, and I like to think I give most people a fair shot.
In the case of Susan Boyle, I’ll admit that I was slightly surprised when she opened her mouth to sing. Not because of her looks, though, but because of the way she presented her personality when she came out and spoke with the judges.
I judge people’s looks by their looks.
Yes - I like to look at good-looking women.
I still have a genetic dispostion* to favour good-looking women on sight.
However none of my best friends (who have been true to me for decades) are good-looking. So I do know what matters in the long run.
*based in my groin!
I assume that grossly overweight people have certain personality traits based on the objective evidence of those traits they have put on display. I am aware that it is possible in certain rare and unusual circumstances for someone to be grossly overweight through no fault of their own, but those circumstances are so unusual that they can be safely ignored.
I assume people whose eyes are too close together are mentally deficient.
I assume people whose eyes are narrow and squinty, like pissholes in the snow, are smug and narrow-minded, and possibly a little stupid.
I assume conventionally pretty women are conventional in most other ways.
Everyone does. I try not to do it too much or when it’s irrelevant, but I think it’s unrealistic to say otherwise.
I was hearing about her for days before I actually saw her - I expected her to be much uglier. Sure, she could use a make-over, but she’s not the troll I was expecting, based on how many people were talking about her.
I try not to judge people by their looks, I don’t think I do it too often.
I don’t think being attracted/not attracted to someone physically, based on their looks, is really “judgement”. You’re not saying they’re a bad person if you’re not attracted to them, or making any other decisions about them other than “I don’t want to have sex with that person”.
I honestly do not want this to become a fat thread, but could you describe briefly what personality traits you assume overweight people have?
In the case of Susan Boyle, the only thing that made me gasp was her wearing dark hose with light shoes. That’s a faux pas no one should commit. Other than that, she just looked like a regular person. However, I don’t know how it is on Britain’s Got Talent, but on American Idol, the pre-screening selects unconventional-looking people who also are trainwrecks when it comes to their singing. The good singers always just happen to also be good-looking. So it may not be completely unreasonable for the judges to correlate not conventionally good-looking with bad singer, and not expect much.
This kind of question always reminds me of those surly teenagers who wear black makeup, dye their hair weird colors, etc., and then complain that “people judge them on their appearance.”
Yes. Everyone does to some degree, and I’m as superficial as the next person. I just try not to let it affect my interactions with them and am more than willing to be proven wrong.
Too late!
I try not to make character judgements about people based on their own actual looks - things they can’t change. I will admit to making assumptions based on what choices people make about dress or personal adornment. I imagine (and in fact have seen) people judge me based on my choices.
When I saw the Susan Boyle clip I didn’t think “How could someone mousy possibly sing beautifully?” I did think “really, nobody thought to suggest that she lose the black hose?” Throughout the subsequent reactions I also have thought “Am I the only one who remembers Kate Smith?” She was a star in her day, and it didnt’ matter that she didn’t look like Betty Grable because that wasn’t her job. Her job was to sing beautifully.
Blind people don’t. 
I would tend to judge more on how they “carry themselves”. Much like **gwendee **said… the decisions they make on how they will present themselves to the world. Not necessarily just how they look, but how they walk, and the words they use.
I believe judging people by their looks is hardwired and they we take a life time of experience and apply it to a new person’s looks in a split second. We are excellent at facial recognition and drawing inferences. We will see how the hair is kept, how bright the eyes are, what condition the teeth are in, how the person carries them-self, their clothes and the condition of their clothes and the inflexion of the voice. We will make judgements as to trustworthiness, economic status, intelligence, confidence and if we are going to like them. This is part of our survival instinct.
We may still keep an open mind and allow further opinions to develop, but the first impression is very important.
I think along the same line as Mikemike2. We all make a snap judgement based on experience. If you use only that to judge a person, you will find yourself missing out on some great relationships throughout your life. You need to go in deeper to find out what someone’s about.
Fuck preferences are different, of course.
Sometimes. I hate it when it happens, but sometimes it does happen.
I was actually going to post this in it’s own thread, but since you started this one…
A couple o’ days ago, I was stopped a red light with my windows down and some loud Irish punk/hard rock blaring. A ghetto hipster-looking young black cat on a crotch rocket-type motorcycle pulls up next to me. He bobbed his head to the music for a few seconds, then motioned for me to turn it down.
“Floggin’ Molly, right?!” he yells.
“Yeah!” I hollered back.
“I love that Irish shit!”
I must have had a surprised look on my face, because the cat grinned and yelled, “What? You think us niggers only listen to hip hop?”
“No, man, uhhhh…” I fumbled. The light turned green and the guy flashed a thumbs-up before he sped away. I felt like an idiot for the rest of the day. I think that this region has infected my brain with judgmentalism and red-neckery (Is that a word? Did I just invent a new word?). It must be something in the water supply.
I think that with Susan Boyle we’re all used to seeing young, well put together people on shows like that because they’re the ones who have been trying to break into the business and they know that looks are a HUGE part of that. This lady came on stage looking like she just finished scubbing the bathtub, had a funny, cheeky attitude and was obviously nervous, and I thought her speaking voice was kind of odd. I don’t think it was so much “this lady is ugly I can’t believe she can sing”, it’s more like “who expected to hear that at all…much less from someone who obviously isn’t in the biz?”
My 2 cents. And yes, we all judge people by their looks initially, but wise people know to look further before deciding on someone.
I don’t allow ugly people to talk to me. They can bring me food, but only at poorly lit restaurants.
I am no oil painting myself, a hair over 5 feet tall, and have suffered a lifetime of shabby treatment from screwed up parents, so have little self-esteem. To make it even worse, I have a tinny, nasal voice and no one listens to me. So I look and sound like a Poor Dim Creature…I look and sound like a big nobody, like I eat bonbons and watch soap operas all day. My m-i-l once praised my parenting skills - “you look after the baby so well! you never put her down on the couch and then walk out of the room!” So, it causes me no end of amusement at the look of astonishment on people’s faces when it is revealed I: got high grades in school, have written articles and stories that have been published, was the city Trivial Pursuit champ back in the heyday, read two books and several magazines a month, have sewn a (fake) fur winter coat complete with lining that won first prize at the fair, and raised a child who graduates from college next month.