Importance of Impressions

As we live our lives, there are few things we do that go unnoticed by others. It takes little more than a subconscious effort to analyze and synthesize an impression of someone based on how they act, to a certain degree. Many people are concerned with the impression that other people get from them, and esteem highly the thoughts, critiques, and suggestions of others. Why do impressions and opinions of people matter so much to us in our lives? Whether it be the impression someone else gets of us, or the impression we get from other people, it plays a major part in our lives.

One reason why people care so much about what other people think of them is because they want to make sure it is acceptable. They want to be sure that when they are doing good deeds, people see them as a person inclined to do such. Even when they make mistakes, they still want the good impression they make on others to remain. The impression we make on others should be no more than a one-sided, biased interpretation of who we really are. After all, that is what an impression is. This is where corruption comes in, where two people interpret the behavior of one person differently. One person might say "That person was kind because it's in their nature," while another might say, "They did it only for gain and recognition." If the person was being genuinely kind, they should have no concern for the negative impression someone received regarding their actions. They did what they felt was right, and that should be the end of it. People take great care in tailoring and filtering through the impressions others get of them to manually ensure that no one sees them the wrong way. This is hard work, but they feel it is necessary to be recognized as who they want to be seen as in society. They take great care in knowing what others think about them, and tailoring their life to gain acceptance.

Another reason why people are influenced by the opinion of others is they believe that their impression shows who they truly are. In fact, this is one of the great falsehoods of the world. Although analysis and synthesis of someone can bring a conclusion supported entirely by observable facts, the pieces of analysis can be put together in an infinite number of ways, leaving vast amounts of room for error. People use others' impression of them to elevate themselves in pride, and take great care in showing how many people like them and see them as a good person, because they have manipulated people to think so. If people think they are kind, then obviously they are. Majority rules, right? Wrong! The kindest people in the world may or may not receive recognition and attention, but to them it does not matter one way or the other. The impression they may leave on others that are jealous of their traits is that of pride and self-elevation, but to them it does not matter, for they know that these incorrect impressions mean nothing about who they truly are. No matter how poorly stereotyped a good person is, if they remain faithful in their values and stick to what they know is right, they will become a person that is known for doing such given any circumstance, regardless of the rumors or impressions that may be floating around.

Our impressions of others matter so much to us because we often take little time to prove or disprove them with substantial fact beyond our own interpretation. In today's society, it is rare to find people straying from their comfort zone to meet new people and truly get to know them. They watch or interact with them briefly and are convinced they know them sufficiently because of the impression they received. They then rationalize whether this person would be someone they could get to know or not. We often prove or disprove our knowledge of someone's inner self based on impressions. Even worse, we sometimes tailor the impressions we get to make a person appear the way we want to see them. Thus we satisfy jealousy, frustration, and self-centeredness by calling the generous 'prideful', the talented 'spoiled' and 'favored', the leaders 'manipulative' and 'dramatic', and the educated 'biased' and 'unknowledgable'.

People use their impressions of others to rationalize and justify their behavior towards them. If they get an impression of someone that suggests they are shy, they can use that impression to rationalize their decision to never go out of their way and get to know them. The importance of impressions that cause us to behave in certain ways are valuable throughout our lives. Not all impressions should be disregarded. Impressions surrounding someone that could lead us into potentially danger, harm, or other negative results should be considered with utmost importance, whether that impression leads us to stay away from a person because of their behavior or whether it pushes us to ruin someone's reputation. Those impressions that lead us towards those seeking a positive end, such as finding a new friend, helping someone out, or sticking to our moral values no matter how hard it might be, should be considered as such. Because we tend to esteem all impressions of people as important, valuable, and necessary is why they matter so much in our lives, when in reality there are many impressions that should be dumped off to the side and forgotten forever.

Impressions tend to govern our lives, whether we consciously allow them to or not. The only way we can rise above this simple and unfair tendency to categorize and judge people is to discern and decide which impressions matter and which ones don't. For some, it is easy to see that what other people think about your choices and actions doesn't matter in the long run if you believe with all your heart you are following the correct path. There's also the whole topic regarding why we tend to bring other people down and think less of them for small innocent mistakes we notice, but I'll stick to impressions for now. So overall, why do impressions matter to us, both ours on others and others' on ours? Because we choose to let them matter. Because we think that majority rules, even though we know that no majority can alter truth. Because we are afraid to stick up for ourselves and who we truly are. Because creating the truth is far easier than becoming it or seeking it out is the reason why impressions matter.