Question

In this module, you learned about thin-slicing, or drawing meaningful conclusions off of very small samples of behavior. For your discussion this week, think about your own life. 1) Have you ever made a thin-sliced impression of another person? In other words, have you ever made an assumption about someone else based on a very small sample of behavior? (If you can't think of a thin-sliced impression that you have made, you can talk about a thin-sliced impression someone else has made of you, or another example that you have seen.) 2) What were the consequences of this thin-sliced impression? 3) Over time, did you find out your impression was accurate or inaccurate? If inaccurate, were you able to adjust your impression? How?

Answer 1

1. I often have often made and observed others making thin-sliced impressions of people. I remember how once, I saw my female colleague with another woman and concluded that they were in a romantic relationship.

2. The consequences of this impression was it affected the way I began to perceive my colleague. I felt like there was an entire layer of her personality that was completely unknown to me.

3. I did find out that my impression of her sexual orientation was correct, as much later, she revealed to me that indeed, she was homosexual and that other lady was her romantic partner.