The Influence of Handshakes on First Impression Accuracy
In this article, the researchers were interested in finding out whether the use of handshake had an impact on improving accuracy during the first impression. In this investigation, the researchers used several targets.
The researchers reviewed several pieces of research conducted earlier, and they include the research conducted by Hall and Hall in 1983 that proposes that handshake is universally used among members of the society in western countries, and it is the first step of social collaboration. The researchers also used research conducted in 2008 by Stewart, Barrick, Dustin, and Donald on the internet, and it showed that over a million people listed the essence that handshakes have during job interviews. The researches in this article also reviewed research by Bernieri, Gada-Jain, and Prickett that was conducted in 2000, and it found that handshakes have effects on outcomes of interactions such as in the evaluation of outcomes of job interviews.
The research in this article was guided by the theory of Gosling and colleagues of 2003 that entails the Ten Item Personality Inventory. The research in this article hypothesized that handshakes are entirely dependent on motivation and practice for their effectiveness. In this hypothesis, it can be seen that the researcher proposed that there is a direct relationship between conscientiousness and handshake. The research also hypothesized that for personality to be encoded, there must be the presence of a handshake. The research in this article also hypothesized that first impressions are affected by handshakes.
The research in this article had 141 students who were at an undergraduate level of education. The participants in this research consisted of 106 female and 35 male students. The participants had ages ranging from 18 years to 46 years. Every participant in this research met five peoples who were used as the targets for the research. The individuals met the participants in turns in relation to how people meet the receptionists’ desk. The targets in the research entered a room and maintained eye contact with every single participant and introduced themselves. Each participant had a role of rating his/her targets based on Gosling and colleagues’ theory. The participants had no information concerning the manipulation of the handshake as a constituent of the research.
The research in this article had several results. The following results were obtained after the participants shook hands with the targets and rated them. Half of the targets in the study performed handshakes with the participants as a starting point of introduction, while the other half did not shook hands with the participants. There was an accurate judgment of extraversion without considering a handshake as a factor. In the study, the impression accuracy of conscientiousness was well moderated by handshake more so in males.
The hypothesis of this research was fully supported. The research in this article fits in the results of previous researches in many ways. The results of the research in this article are constant with researches conducted previously in finding out how accurate impressions are where there is no acquaintance since, in the research, extraversion was noticed correctly in all the handshake circumstances.
Based on the results obtained from the research present in this article, the researchers suggested new research investigating whether handshakes are a window into the soul of an individual. According to the research present in this article, it is evident that handshakes play a significant role in bringing out the first impression. Data collected in the research shows that except for diligence, handshakes should not be used as tools for evaluating other people.