1/20th of a Second

How long does it take to create a first impression. One recent study found 1/20th of a second.

That's frightening.

CareerJournal has the details and an interesting story:

I once interviewed a woman who, in 1952, received a phone call from a man she'd never heard of. He'd gotten her number from a mutual friend, and asked for a date. His efforts to sweet-talk her didn't go well. He was cocky and full of "intellectual jive," she told me. But she agreed to meet him for lunch.

When he picked her up, her first impression of him was "how short he seems" and "how unimpressive he looks." Still, she decided to set aside those first thoughts, and as she spent time with him, she saw through his wild confidence, and found a sincere sense of purpose. "He grew in stature," she said.

I've told this story to my teenage daughters when they've been quick to dismiss someone at first glance. The woman's name was Coretta Scott. The man, whom she eventually married, was Martin Luther King Jr. Had they met in 2006, at a speed-dating night, he might have offered her a two-minute burst of cockiness, and she might have rolled her eyes and rejected him.