They say never to judge a book by its cover, but who doesn't?

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impressionableadolescent

New member
You see someone with gravy stains on his shrit, a sour expression on his face, and he's wearing velcro shoes. You figure the guy is mentally-ill, or at the very least someone to be avoided. Then you see a well-dressed, smiling man. You automatically make a more positive judgment of the second person, but is it really fair to value the one person over the other? The next step would be to actually talk to one or the other, but are you really going to talk to the first guy? It seems like a common-sense response, but I wonder, where does it come from? Is it socially-ingrained, is it a natural defense response, inborn into our DNA? Why do we always judge a book by its cover inadvertantly? I mean why do you bother trying to match, shaving, and wearing a smile if people didn't judge a book by its cover? I guess it's all you can do if you don't know a person, and maybe not worth analysis, but if people didn't operate this way, how would society run?
 
You're absolutely right. Everyone judges a book by its cover. I know I do. This is human nature. The expression comes from the 'exception to the rule' school. That is, since there's always an exception, the saying only serves to remind us that there are, amazingly enough, some cases where a person will surprise you by not living up to your first impression.
 
It is definitely socially integrated into our minds, as well as our natural responses to a first appearance. We are "trained" to be more comfortable around people who follow our expectations of what a person should be like, and we would naturally gravitate towards such a person. Instinctual attractions are like sexual attraction: bodily features, stance, demeanor. Just in general we gravitate to people who are similar to us, so you can get to really like someone who has a horrible outward appearance but shares a common personality, while you may be fooled by a first impression. Image is everything
 
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