Introductions

First impressions matter. Typically our first judgements of people come from the way they look, because no matter how many times we are told not to judge a book by its cover, we do. That’s why we even have a business sector devoted to marketing, and publishers that hire artists to create artwork for book covers. Scientists will argue that it's human nature to be attracted to more beautiful people and things, and people will argue that the world is shallow and narcissistic. Regardless of the angle you take, one fact remains: how things look is crucial.

We live in an image obsessed culture, where in many cases presentation means more than substance. I am experiencing my teenage years, developmental years heavily influence by appearance, in this image obsessed culture. I think this provides an interesting perspective, because my age group’s added attention to appearance has made me hypersensitive to it. The purpose of this blog will be to explore and discover new ways in which appearance impacts life.

Because I am a visual learner, I have always paid special attention to visual cues. I tend to notice how people dress, style their hair, and do their make up. I try not to judge them based on how they look, because my whole moral upbringing has been about getting to know people on the inside, but I cannot ignore the fact that looks matter. How a person decides to present themselves to the world has a lot to say about who they are. It is the ideas of visual cues and initial judgements that have captured my imagination and made me want to explore the varying roles of appearance in our lives. I want to know the science behind images, the psychology, and the larger cultural impacts of images. Appearances can influence behavior, reinforce stereotypes, and win elections. Looks matter, so it’s about time I tried to understand them.