Digital Impressions: Psychological Mechanisms and Societal Implications

As our personal and professional lives become increasingly digital, new questions have emerged regarding the effects of this sea change. This symposium explores how people form digital first impressions and the societal consequences of virtual interactions. Presenters will discuss errors made when forming impressions from facial images, such as profile pictures, and what such errors reveal about underlying psychological mechanisms. In addition, the consequences of online vs. in-person interactions for dehumanization, political polarization, and sociability will be examined. The conclusions gleaned from these presentations have important theoretical and practical implications for management.

• Examining Impression Formation Inaccuracy Using Computational Modeling

• Presenter: Poruz Khambatta; Stanford Graduate School of Business

• Presenter: Michal Kosinski; Stanford U.

• First Impressions of Happiness are Biased by How Average People Appear

• Presenter: Evan Walker Carr; Columbia Business School

• Presenter: DongWon Oh; Princeton U.

• Presenter: Timothy Brady; UC San Diego

• Presenter: Piotr Winkielman; UC San Diego

• Presenter: Alexander Todorov; Princeton U.

• Spoken Dialogues Promote Understanding and Curb Dehumanization of Political Opponents

• Presenter: Juliana Schroeder; U. of California, Berkeley

• Does Online Technology Make Us More or Less Sociable? A Literature Review and Model

• Presenter: Adam Waytz; Northwestern Kellogg School of Management

• Presenter: Kurt Gray; U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill